After viewing a first-of-its-kind PETA exposé revealing that crying alpacas were roughly shorn, cut open, and left bleeding from deep wounds, Japan-based fashion giant UNIQLO – which has 20 stores in Australia across New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria, and Western Australia – has banned alpaca wool.
PETA’s exposé 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 spat, cried out, and vomited as workers grabbed them by the ears, roughly sheared them, crudely stitched up wounds, and then threw them to the concrete floor.
“We welcome UNIQLO’s compassionate decision, which will help prevent vulnerable alpacas from being abused and shorn bloody for their wool,” says PETA spokesperson Emily Rice. “We’re urging people who care about animals to boycott alpaca wool and opt for vegan clothing instead, which no animal has 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 wool is disastrous for the planet. The Higg Materials Sustainability Index ranks it 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.
UNIQLO joins Overstock.com, Marks & Spencer, Maison Numen, Smith & Caughey’s, and Esprit in banning alpaca fibre. 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, as a first step. UNIQLO previously banned mohair after talks with PETA US.
Photos from the investigation are available here, and broadcast-quality footage is available here. PETA opposes speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview. For more information, please visit PETA.org.au.
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Good for Uniqlo. Cruelty is the norm in every industry that uses living beings as commodities. We can avoid supporting it by choosing animal- and earth-friendly vegan fashions.
Kudos to Uniqlo for doing the right thing. Other animals are here for their own reasons; humans have no right to imprison them, punch them, slam them to the ground, and cut them up—or even kill them—for sweaters and scarves.