UK-based retailer, Boohoo, has become the first major retailer to ban wool, committing to no longer using the fibre in its products from autumn/winter season onwards.
The group that includes its namesake brand, Pretty Little Thing and Nasty Gal, has made the decision in the wake of an appeal from PETA, animal rights group. This urged the retailer to take a stand against the “shocking, systematic cruelty” going on in the wool industry.
In a statement, the retailer said, “Boohoo is the first major fashion retailer to ban wool and we have decided to no longer use the fibre in its products from autumn/winter season.”
PETA claims that wool industry causes havoc on the environment with manure generated from livestock significantly contributing to the increase in the greenhouse gases, large-scale grazing that leads to vegetation change and soil erosion and faecal matter and sheep dip, a toxic chemical used to get rid of sheep parasites, causing pollution in the local waterways.
Also since 2014, PETA has released 11 Exposés of over 99 sheep-shearing facilities on four continents including in the UK causing “systemic abuse” on the animals.
Yvonne Taylor, Director of Corporate Projects, PETA, stated that, “Kind shoppers agree that no jumper or scarf is worth kicking, punching and killing gentle sheep on the shearing floor, and we’re urging other retailers to follow Boohoo’s forward-thinking example.”
