Will H&M Ban Down Following a PETA US Shareholder Resolution?
After a recent PETA Asia investigation into Vina Prauden – a Vietnamese company that previously supplied down to H&M – revealed that ducks’ throats were slit while they were still conscious and that the birds were seen moving for at least a minute afterwards, PETA US submitted a shareholder resolution today to H&M Group urging the board of directors to prepare a report on the slaughter methods used to procure down for the company.
The Responsible Down Standard Is a Sham
The resolution points out that H&M depends on the Textile Exchange’s demonstrably ineffective Responsible Down Standard (RDS) to make claims about animal welfare. But recently, it began removing the RDS label from its online offerings, indicating that it knows the RDS is a sham. H&M provides no information about the farms and slaughterhouses that supply down for its products – completely debunking its own misleading statements that it has prioritised both traceability and transparency across supply chains.
What’s Wrong With Down?
Every down item represents the pain and suffering of terrified birds, and deceptive labels and certifications do nothing except keep consumers in the dark while animals continue to suffer.
At a slaughterhouse that supplied down to Vina Prauden, PETA Asia investigators documented a worker violently grabbing ducks and forcing their legs into shackles before dragging them through an electrified water bath meant to paralyse them – but the ducks’ throats were slit while they were still conscious. The slaughterhouse owner told investigators that her employees never check for signs of consciousness before slaughtering ducks by stabbing them in the neck.
Previous PETA exposés have repeatedly revealed workers painfully live-plucking ducks and geese, leaving them with bloody, gaping wounds, including on farms connected to purportedly “responsible” companies.
On an RDS-certified farm in Russia, PETA Asia documented that terrified geese shrieked as workers stretched their necks out across a stump and then repeatedly hacked at them with a dull axe – as many as seven times – before decapitation was complete.
Birds Need You to Take Action
H&M states that no animals should be harmed for its clothes, so it should take the chance to investigate its supply chain to ensure just that. Please send H&M a message today urging it to ditch down and switch to animal-free materials.
