Valentino Bans Alpaca Fleece After PETA U.K. Appeal

Luxury Brand’s Decision Follows Exposé Showing Animals Bleeding and Crying Out

For Immediate Release:
August 12, 2020

Contact:
Moira Colley 202-483-7382

Milan – After viewing a PETA exposé revealing that crying alpacas are roughly shorn and left cut up and bleeding from deep wounds, luxury fashion brand Valentino has confirmed that it will discontinue the use of the material by the end of next year.

PETA’s undercover investigation of the world’s largest privately owned alpaca farm in Peru, Mallkini, shows that workers slammed alpacas—some of whom were pregnant—onto tables, tied them to a stretching device, and pulled hard, nearly wrenching their legs out of their sockets. Terrified of being pinned down, the animals spit, cried out, and vomited as workers grabbed them by the ears, roughly sheared their hair, crudely stitched up wounds, and then threw them to the concrete floor.

“Valentino’s compassionate decision will go a long way in helping to prevent vulnerable alpacas from being abused and shorn bloody for their fleece,” says PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman. “Kind shoppers can do their part by steering clear of alpaca fleece and opting for chic, PETA-approved vegan clothing that no animal had to suffer for.”

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to wear”—notes that in addition to causing gentle alpacas immense suffering, the production of alpaca fleece is also terrible for the planet. The Higg Materials Sustainability Index ranked alpaca fleece as the second most environmentally damaging material after silk, noting that it’s six times as harmful as polyester and more than four times as damaging as modal, viscose, rayon, lyocell, acrylic, and other vegan materials.

Valentino is the first luxury brand to ban alpaca and joins UNIQLO—the third­-largest clothing retailer in the world—Esprit, and Marks & Spencer in banning the material. Gap Inc. (which owns Banana Republic, Athleta, and other brands) and H&M Group (which owns eight brands) have cut ties with Mallkini’s parent company, the Michell Group.

PETA opposes speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview. For more information, please visit PETA.org.