We Did It! H&M Bans New Down Feathers Following PETA Campaign

Update (4 October 2024):

H&M – the second-largest clothing retailer in the world – has committed to no longer sourcing new down for any of its brands worldwide, sparing countless ducks and geese a lifetime of misery and an agonising death.

In a move towards eradicating the use of down altogether, H&M is transitioning to using only synthetic or post-consumer recycled down for its jackets and home goods.

The announcement comes after a huge global campaign by PETA entities, including dozens of demonstrations at H&M stores around the world, an appeal from Joaquin Phoenix, shareholder resolutions, and letters from more than 150,000 supporters of PETA entities.

Original blog:

H&M’s disgraceful sale of down is fuelling an industry that forces vulnerable birds to spend their entire lives in filth before being violently hacked to pieces. A PETA Asia investigation exposed duck farms and slaughterhouses in Vietnam that provide suppliers – including one that listed H&M as a customer – with down marketed as “responsible”. Ducks were seen suffering from gaping, bloody wounds and languishing in their own waste before being stabbed in the neck while still conscious.

PETA is calling on H&M to cut the cruelty by banning down and sticking to the stylish vegan options its customers already love. Here are the latest updates on the campaign:

Update (31 July 2024): ‘Wanted’ Posters Seek CEO
Nearly six months into Daniel Ervér’s tenure as CEO of H&M Group, animal suffering is still business as usual for the company, which has shamefully continued to sell products made of cruelly obtained down feathers. As a result, PETA supporters delivered a scathing performance review of Ervér. Activists plastered the area around H&M’s head office in Stockholm with “Wanted” posters calling out the retail boss and urging the company to stop selling the stolen feathers of abused birds.

Update (3 May 2024): PETA Protests Against Down at Barcelona Retail Event
Retail industry insiders arriving at the Shoptalk Europe event at Fira Gran Via today were greeted by a flock of giant “ducks” and “geese” with a message for H&M, whose representative was a speaker at the event: “Down Is Bloody Cruel. Drop It!” The action was carried out by PETA supporters and local animal welfare activists, who demanded that the company stop selling items made from feathers stolen from birds. PETA entity investigations have revealed that suffering and violence are inherent in the down industry, regardless of which assurance scheme might be on the label.

Update (22 May 2024): Activists Ruffle Feathers at Global Fashion Summit
As industry leaders and royals such as Queen Mary of Denmark arrived at the Global Fashion Summit at Copenhagen Concert Hall today, they were greeted by a flock of activists with a message for H&M. The action was carried out by supporters of PETA and local animal welfare group Dyrenes Alliance, who demanded that the company stop selling items made from feathers stolen from birds.

Update (3 May 2024): ‘Angels’ Summoned to H&M’s Annual Meeting

Update (15 March 2024): New Store Opening in Dublin Crashed by ‘Geese’

Update (20 December 2023): PETA ‘Angel’ Reveals Hellish Reality of Down

Update (17 November 2023): H&M CEO Receives ‘Bloody Duck Foot’ and ‘Axe’

Update (2 September 2023): PETA Protests in Stockholm

Update (4 May 2023): ‘Ducks’ Protest Outside H&M’s AGM

Feathers Are Stolen From Birds for Down

PETA entities have released nine exposés of the down industry, each one proving that filth, suffering, and violent deaths are industry norms.

Inside a slaughterhouse, investigators filmed a worker violently grabbing ducks and stepping on them, apparently to pin them down so they could be restrained, and hanging them upside down in shackles. They were then dragged through an electrified water bath that paralysed them but didn’t render them unconscious before a worker stabbed them in the neck with a knife and left them to bleed out. Many birds continued to move for more than a minute afterwards.

H&M has since removed the “responsible” down label from its online offerings in the US – indicating that it knows that the designation is a sham – but it continues to sell down.