Video: Top Designers Linked to Tying Down Terrified, Screaming Goats for Cashmere

For Immediate Release:
July 12, 2023

Contact:
Moira Colley 202-483-7382

Chanel, Gucci, Dior, Hermès, and Louis Vuitton have been caught by a PETA Asia investigation into operations in Mongolia that shows goats screaming in pain and terror as their hair is violently ripped out for cashmere garments sold by these top fashion houses. The investigation into a supplier to Lanificio Colombo—whose clients also include Prada, Burberry, Bottega Veneta, and Max Mara—and Naadam reveals that workers tie goats’ legs together, violently pin the animals down, and tear out their hair with sharp metal combs, a process that can take up to an hour. Once the adult goats are no longer considered profitable because they grow less hair, workers hit them over the head with a hammer and slit their throats, leaving them to twitch in agony for over four minutes as they bleed out. At another operation, workers also crudely castrate baby goats without painkillers. Photos are available here, and broadcast-quality footage is available here.

Sustainable cruelty? Two of the herding operations supply companies that tout their “Sustainable Fibre Alliance” (SFA) membership to boost sales, although the SFA guidelines don’t require annual farm audits or pain relief during castration or for injuries sustained during violent restraining and combing—and even consider treating animals “humanely” prior to slaughter to be a recommendation, not a requirement.

“Goats suffer in agony so that these particular designer brands can sell their hair as cashmere sweaters and scarves to customers who have no idea of the cruelty involved,” says PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman. “PETA is calling on these and other high-end brands to stop hiding behind misleading labels and switch to cozy, luxurious, and 100% animal-friendly vegan cashmere.”

PETA Asia’s investigators also found pieces of cashmere with skin on them. One goat was seen with a bleeding penis, and another was found dead the day after having been seen limping.

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to wear”—opposes speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview. For more information on PETA’s investigative newsgathering and reporting, please visit PETA.org or follow the group on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram.