The UK’s Royal Collection shops and websites will stop selling items containing mohair, the wool made from the fur of angora goats.
“Our shops are no longer selling teddy bears or any other items that have been manufactured from mohair,” the Royal Collection wrote in a statement, saying it “will explore alternative sources for future products.”
The decision comes after pressure from PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals), urging the Royal Collection Trust, whose chairman is the Prince of Wales, to drop products containing the wool.
PETA was specifically concerned over a £125 teddy bear on sale over the holiday season. The bear, which was produced by the last teddy bear manufacturer in England, was made from mohair. The group wrote to Prince Charles urging him to withdraw the “unethical” bears from the Royal Collection shops and web stores.
PETA applauded the decision. “The Royal Collection Trust’s decision to stop selling mohair is a tremendous act of kindness towards gentle goats,” PETA’s director of corporate projects, Yvonne Taylor, said in a statement following the announcement.
“No children’s toy should be made with the hair of goat kids, who are left bloody and terrified after they’re held down and shorn.
“PETA urges all shoppers to read labels carefully to ensure that their purchases don’t support cruelty to animals.”
The Royal Collection Trust joins a growing number of manufacturers and retail brands dropping mohair from their collections. Lacoste, Diane Von Furstenberg, Marks & Spencer, Barbour, ASOS, and Ralph Lauren have all dropped mohair.
“PETA’s exposé pulled back the curtain on the violent mohair industry, and Ralph Lauren responded by banning the cruelly produced material,” the group said last July after the announcement. “Ralph Lauren has joined the growing list of fashion brands that recognize that today’s shoppers don’t support cruelty to animals in the fashion industry.”
Even fast-fashion brand Forever 21 has dropped mohair after pressure from PETA and other animal rights organizations.
the National Council of Prevention of Cruelty to Animals filed landmark cruelty-to-animals charges against four South African angora goat farmers last summer after an investigation found rampant mistreatment of the animals.
“For the first time, charges have been filed against mohair-industry workers for cruelly handling and slowly killing panicked goats,” said PETA Senior Vice President Daphna Nachminovitch. “PETA is calling on shoppers worldwide to reject cruelty to animals, and that includes never buying mohair, fleece, or fur.”
This post was last modified on December 15, 2020 5:51 am