Cruelty is never fashionable. In recent decades, many brands have stopped using fur, exotic skins, and other animal products in their goods. This is largely due to anti-cruelty campaigns by Animal rights groups including PETA. However, other fashion brands continue to treat animals with cruelty so that they can use their skin, feathers, and fur to sell clothing and accessories. This must change. Tell these ten brands to renounce animal cruelty in 2024!
URBN owns several different brands including Urban Outfitters, Anthropologie, and Free People. Although these brands are popular amongst a wide range of people, their animal welfare practices are questionable. Indeed, they have recently received significant backlash from animal rights organizations. PETA has led several protests decrying the use of leather, silk, down, and wool by URBN’s brands. Urban Outfitters, Anthropologie, and Free People all received animal welfare ratings of “Not Good Enough” from the ethical and sustainable ratings source Good On You.
Hèrmes published an Animal Welfare Policy in 2021. However, the fashion brand continues to use leather, wool, down, fur, exotic animal skin, shearling, hair, horn, and silk. They had an animal welfare rating of “Very Poor” by Good On You. In 2020, the company announced plans to build a large crocodile farm in Australia. There, animals would be killed and their skin used to make Hèrmes products. This came after a PETA investigation revealed the cruelty that crocodiles at a Texas farm were being kept in. There, crocodiles were kept in appalling conditions before being brutally killed. Similar allegations of cruelty have surrounded ostrich, snake, and lizard farms that the company sources materials from.
Fashion brand Dior does appear to have an animal welfare policy. However, the brand continues to use leather, wool, down, silk, fur, exotic skins, exotic animal hair, feathers, and silk. Dior has also ignored a petition demanding that the company go fur-free. This is one of the reasons that the brand has been rated “Very Poor” by Good on You.
Additionally, Dior has previously been linked to Angora farms accused of animal cruelty. The Animal rights organization Last Chance for Animals conducted a two-year-long investigation that looked at seventy rabbit farms in Spain. The investigation found multiple instances of animal cruelty at the farms. They also alleged that multiple brands, including Dior, continued to use Angora sourced from these farms. Dior issued a statement denying any links to the farms.
Dior also drew negative backlash over their treatment of animals after horses were featured in their 2019 Spring/Summer fashion show. The show featured Escaramuza, who rode alongside the models. The riders carried crops, which they repeatedly hit the horses with. Several celebrities, including Paris Jackson, left the show due to concern over the horse’s treatment.
Canada Goose is a high-end outerwear brand that had previously featured both fur and down in their goods. However, they committed to going fur-free by 2023 after widespread outrage over their use of coyote fur. However, despite this milestone, the brand continues to use goose down, leather, and wool. Although the company has stated that they use only down certified by the Responsible Down Standard. Despite this, harvesting down is inherently cruel. Geese are kept in small cages, roughly handled, and then plucked without being sedated. They are later slaughtered and may even be boiled alive. Canada Goose’s continued use of animal products has led to a “Not Good Enough” Animal Welfare rating by Good On You.
Prada committed to going fur-free in 2019 and joined the Fur Free Alliance. Despite this, the brand continues to use other animal textiles. These include leather, wool, down, angora, and exotic animal skins and hair. Prada has been identified as lagging in animal welfare advances by the Animal rights organization Four Paws. A PETA Asia investigation that took place between April 2022 and February 2023 also linked Prada to cashmere farms in Mongolia that mistreated goats.
Fast fashion brand SHEIN has received a lot of scrutiny in recent years. Their mass-produced products contribute to textile and plastic pollution. Additionally, the brand has been accused of multiple human rights violations including allegations of forced labor. They have also been accused of greenwashing. This includes the campaign #SHEINCares, short for SHEIN Cares for Animals, which aims to preserve biodiversity. Despite this commitment to preserving animal species, SHEIN uses wool, down, exotic animal hair, silk, and feathers. This led to them receiving Good On You’s lowest rating of “We Avoid”.
Fendi received a Good On You Animal Welfare rating of “Very Poor”. This is because the brand continues to use leather, wool, down, fur, exotic animal skin, shearling, exotic animal hair, and silk. The majority of the fur used in Fendi products is sourced from minks. In 2022, the brand adopted Furmark, which claims to uphold animal welfare standards. However, fur is inherently cruel. Animals on fur farms are often kept in small cages. Mink, which are naturally solitary creatures, are often kept close together or in the same cages. This can cause them to exhibit stress behaviors including biting each other.
Good on You gave fashion brand Max Mara the rating “We Avoid”. This rating is due to the brand’s use of fur from Finnish fur farms that have been linked to animal cruelty. Animal rights activists have called on the brand to stop using fur. Protests have taken place in front of Max Mara’s flagship store in Paris. Additionally, a Humane Society International secret shopper was also given misleading information about fur products and the conditions that animals on fur farms live in by a Harrods employee.
Fashion brand Zara has an animal welfare policy that bans fur, angora, and products that are tested on animals. But they still use wool, leather, down, and exotic animal hair. The brand’s tracing practices have been called into question, meaning that it is unclear where the animal products that the brand uses are from. This has led to the brand receiving a Good On You rating of “Not Good Enough”.
Louis Vuitton has regularly ranked among the worst brands for animal welfare in Four Paws International’s annual Animal Welfare in Fashion report. The brand uses fur, down, leather, wool, and exotic animal skins and hair in their goods. Louis Vuitton has previously claimed that animal skins used in their products are “humanely farmed”. However, a PETA investigation linked the brand to an ostrich farm and slaughterhouse that has been accused of animal cruelty. This ostrich farm supplies skins to many top European fashion houses, including Louis Vuitton.
There is no excuse for these brands to continue torturing animals for their own financial gain. Many cruelty-free alternatives exist that can be used to create luxury goods that are kind to animals. Plant-based, one hundred percent cruelty-free leathers and silks exist. Additionally, brands have also developed bio-based faux fur that is both environmentally friendly and sustainable. Luckily many brands have already embraced these humane options. However, millions of animals continue to suffer in the name of fashion. This is not okay. Never purchase animal-based clothing or accessories. Instead, choose to Support brands that have embraced cruelty-free alternatives.

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