Down feather ban

High-street favourites Topshop, Whistles, Miss Selfridge, Warehouse and White Stuff have promised to keep down out of all their future collections.

The news comes in the wake of a PETA US and PETA Asia exposé showing that workers in China – the source of 80% of the world’s down – pin geese down and rip their feathers out as they struggle and scream, leaving the animals with gaping, bloody wounds.

Retailer pledges

PETA – whose motto reads, in part, that ‘animals are not ours to wear’ – has also received down-free pledges from Hobbs, Dr Martens, Oasis, Primark, Wallis, Boohoo, and ASOS (own brand).

‘Just as they did with cruelly obtained angora wool, forward-thinking fashion brands are jumping to meet the demands of today’s compassionate consumers, who want nothing to do with an industry that rips out live birds’ feathers.’

YVONNE TAYLOR
PETA’s Senior Manager of Corporate Projects

Responsible down?

All the farms in the exposé have connections to retail suppliers that are certified by the so-called Responsible Down Standard (RDS), which prohibits live plucking of geese – raising concerns about the legitimacy of the RDS certification.

The down industry also helps support producers of foie gras, which is made by forcing tubes down the throats of geese and ducks and pumping grain into their stomachs until their livers become enlarged and diseased. The feathers of many of the birds on foie gras farms are sold for down.