Yoox Net-a-Porter commits to ban on angora
What a cruelty! Did you know that sensitive rabbits are live-plucked for their fur? They leave bloody wounds while the animals scream in pain.
Online luxury Group Yoox Net-a-Porter confirms it will end the sale of angora across all its platforms
This information is still real. We can read it at PETA’s ground-breaking exposé of the Chinese angora industry, the source of 90% of the world’s angora. PETA exposés have revealed that even on angora farms deemed humane by third-party auditors, workers tie rabbits down and rip their fur out, leaving behind bloody wounds, while the animals scream in pain. Rabbits endure this torment every three months for two to five years before their throats are slit and their skin is torn off.
Despite PETA Asia’s shocking investigation into Chinese angora wool farms, some companies have continued to source angora wool from China, saying that they trust their farmers and that third-party audits have deemed their sources “humane”. Suspecting that the auditing system was meaningless, PETA US set out to uncover the truth. A team travelled to China and visited five farms in different regions of mainland China. Unlike typical farm audits, these visits were all unannounced. What they saw shocked them to the core.
Rabbits were yanked out of cages by their sensitive ears and pinned under workers’ feet while being violently sheared. Rabbits who had been plucked bare lay motionless in their cages. The temperature was over 37ºC with 80% humidity, and the rabbits were given little to no protection from the elements. Many animals exhibited rapid, open-mouthed breathing brought on by heat stress or respiratory disease. Many animals’ heads were tilted at a 90-degree angle.
Because of the head tilt, they were unable to orient themselves to eat or drink and slowly died of starvation or dehydration. Most of the rabbits were suffering from severe skin irritation caused by excessive salivation. The saliva ran down their necks and onto their chests and forelimbs. As a result, these areas of skin had become severely infected.
Designers who already said no
PETA has confirmed angora bans from designers including Stella McCartney, Calvin Klein, Roland Mouret, and Alexa Chung. The global effect is such that Chinese angora exports were 85% lower one year after the exposé was released, and the decline has remained consistent.
Today, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) confirms that luxury fashion group Yoox Net-a-Porter has committed to ending the sale of angora across all its platforms. The move follows the recent announcement by the group that it has implemented a company-wide fur-free policy.
Regardless of whether fur or angora was obtained by gassing, electrocuting, bludgeoning or by being ripped from a terrified, conscious animal, it’s always a product of extreme cruelty – which most stylish women and designers have turned their backs on as demand for sustainable vegan fashion has soared – says PETA Director of International Programmes Mimi Bekhechi.
By introducing a ban on angora in line with its ban on fur, Yoox Net-a-Porter wants to secure its place as the premier luxury fashion destination, now and into the future.
