Misleading ‘Humane’ Claims by UGG Prompt Legal Warning From PETA US
London – In response to clothing brand UGG’s baseless assurances that the animals whose skin, down, and wool were used for its products were treated humanely – despite having no way to ensure that’s true – PETA US sent the company a cease and desist letter demanding that it remove the claims, giving it until 1 December to comply, or the group may file a complaint with federal authorities.
The PETA US letter outlines the following:
- UGG’s website states that it never accepts hides that come “from animals who have been raised or slaughtered inhumanely” and that it ensures this by sourcing only hides that are “food industry by-products.” But it’s standard practice in the meat industry to castrate and cut off the tails of lambs and calves without painkillers, forcibly cram animals into trucks for transport to slaughter, and slit their throats.
- UGG advertises that it sources its sheepskin from certain countries, including the US, because those countries regulate the treatment of animals – but there are no federal laws in the US that regulate the care of animals on farms, and the few state laws that exist are filled with exemptions that allow rampant abuse.
- UGG also brags about using down from facilities certified by the Responsible Down Standard (RDS), but PETA exposés of Vietnamese farms that sold “responsible” down revealed that geese were covered in gaping and bloody wounds and languished in sheds strewn with faeces before they were stabbed in the neck and their feet were cut off while they were still conscious. One facility in Russia shown hacking off live birds’ heads with a dull axe didn’t even know that it was RDS-certified. The “responsible” down label also allows for many cruel industry standards – for example, it only recommends (it doesn’t require) that farms be clean enough to avoid a “strong ammonia smell”.
“PETA exposés have repeatedly shown the cruelty inherent in the wool, down, and leather industries, yet UGG is continuing to deceive its clients with ‘humane’ claims,” says PETA Vice President of Corporate Projects Yvonne Taylor. “PETA is calling on UGG to stop misleading the public and urging consumers to be wary of humane-washing tactics and only shop vegan.”
PETA – whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to wear” – opposes speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview. For more information, please visit PETA.org.uk or follow the group on Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), TikTok, or Instagram.
Contact:
Sascha Camilli +44 (0) 20 7923 6244; [email protected]
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