Dive Brief:
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Following protests by animal-rights group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), Spanish fast-fashion company Inditex, which owns Zara and Massimo Dutti, has said it will stop selling items made with angora wool. There are ways to humanely collect rabbit fur required for the wool, but PETA had released disturbing videos of rabbits screaming during the process.
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Known as angora wool, the textile is made of the under coat of angora rabbits. Several other retailers, including H&M, Topshop, and Primark, have already stopped selling the fur.
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Inditex, one of the world's largest retailers with 6,500 stores worldwide, said it had found no evidence of inhumane treatment of angora rabbits at any of its factories, but that it was ending the practice nonetheless.
Dive Insight:
It’s difficult to un-see a video showing a screaming, maltreated rabbit, and then even more difficult to buy something made from its fur. Apparel retailers have little to say once public opinion is so decidedly shaped on a topic like this, and it’s not like humans need animal fur in their fast-fashion items. In many ways, for many apparel factories, this series of agreements by retailers regarding angora wool has been easier to achieve than improved working conditions for humans themselves.