Stella McCartney Calls On Designers to Sign PETA’s Pledge to Go Feather-Free
28 June 2024
Stella McCartney Calls On Designers to Sign PETA’s Pledge to Go Feather-Free
London – Following exposés by PETA entities revealing that birds exploited by the feather industry endure a miserable life and a violent death, Stella McCartney, one of the world’s foremost luxury fashion icons and the first major luxury fashion house in the world to go feather-free, is calling on designers internationally to sign PETA’s new Feather-Free Pledge vowing never to use feathers again in their collections.
In a series of videos released on social media over the weekend, McCartney will open eyes and hearts among the brand’s millions of global followers as she shows the suffering that birds endure for feathers and leads the charge for true creativity in fashion by recreating the look, lightness, movement, and insulation of feathers with vegan materials. McCartney’s Autumn 2024 collection features BioPuff, a material made from bulrushes whose use contributes to the regeneration of wetlands in Cambridgeshire and helps lower greenhouse gas emissions and boost biodiversity.
Images are also available here. Credit: Mary McCartney.
“Every year, the fashion industry plucks and kills millions of birds for their feathers, which is not only inhumane but also unnecessary,” says McCartney. “My Autumn 2024 collection shows the desirability and possibilities of cruelty-free alternatives that are kind to animals and Mother Earth. I hope it inspires you to join me and PETA in pledging to end the use of feathers in fashion and beyond.”
“Suffering, violence, and death are ubiquitous in the feather industry, which hacks sensitive birds to bits so that their plumage can be stuffed into jackets or sewn onto garments for decoration,” says PETA Vice President of Corporate Projects Yvonne Taylor. “PETA thanks Stella McCartney for leading the charge for a more conscious and compassionate fashion industry and calls on designers everywhere to follow her lead by cutting cruelty from their collections.”
Ostriches are the most commonly exploited birds in the decorative feather trade. PETA entities have documented how workers in the fashion industry forcibly restrain young ostriches, electrically stun them, and slit their throats before tearing the feathers from their still-warm bodies. Other birds fare no better. On crowded farms, peacocks, pheasants, emus, turkeys, and chickens all endure miserable lives and a painful death so that their feathers can be stolen for fashion. A PETA Asia investigation into down operations in Vietnam revealed that ducks suffered from gaping, bloody wounds and languished in filth before being stabbed in the neck while still conscious.
PETA notes that in addition to McCartney, many top designers – Including Felder Felder, Eirinn Hayhow, Richard Malone, Patrick McDowell, VIN + OMI, Pīferi, Sarah Regensburger, and Joshua James Small – have already signed its Feather-Free Pledge, while many others are opting for luxurious faux feathers made from bamboo, recycled materials, and metals.
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, TikTok, or Instagram.
Contact:
Jennifer White +44 (0) 20 7837 6327; [email protected]
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