Update: April 8 at 1:30 p.m. ET: Although bebe acknowledged receipt of PETA's cease-and-desist letter and promised us a response, PETA has not received one and bebe continues to misrepresent itself to the public as a fur-free company. So PETA has filed a complaint with the Better Business Bureau (BBB) regarding the retailer's consumer deception. The bureau can now ask bebe to resolve PETA's grievance. It can also post our complaint to bebe's BBB webpage, which could negatively impact the company's BBB rating.

Originally posted on January 28 at 11:25 a.m. ET:

As everyone knows, some customers won't shop for anything in a store that sells fur, just as they won't buy "pet" supplies in a store that sells animals. Even though bebe currently sells rabbit and chinchilla fur in some of its stores, on two separate occasions—one as recent as January 15—callers to bebe's customer service line were told that bebe doesn't sell fur. One caller recorded her conversation, which you can listen to here. PETA's attorneys have sent a cease-and-desist advisory to Steve Birkhold, bebe's CEO, letting him know that if bebe doesn't either start being honest with customers or actually stop selling real fur, PETA may take the company from the mall to the courthouse for engaging in false advertising, which is a violation of both state and federal laws.

It's no wonder that bebe wants to cover up the fact that it's selling real fur. In China, where bebe sources much of its fur, workers pull rabbits out of cages by their ears and stun the screaming animals with electrical devices. And in China as well as other countries, animals are bludgeoned to death, electrocuted, and often even skinned alive, as documented in this undercover footage. 

As bebe is likely learning, few people are willing to patronize retailers that support such cruelty. Let bebe know that you are one of many potential customers who will refuse to buy its clothing until its shelves truly are fur-free.

There's nothing chic about mutilating sheep, and the Australian wool industry's efforts to make the sweater set appeal to the younger set via its Facebook page have hit a snag. After PETA asked its supporters to post photos from our "We ♥ Sheep" album, which show the unlovely cruelty behind the wool industry's "We ♥ Wool" page, the page was shut down!

The wool industry is notorious for mutilating millions of gentle lambs every year with "mulesing," a crude and cruel attempt to prevent a maggot infestation known as "flystrike." Farmers cut huge chunks of flesh—not just skin—from lambs' backsides, usually with little or no pain relief. In agony, the mulesed lambs scuttle sideways like crabs, and the deep wounds can take weeks to heal, often becoming infected before they do.

You can help save sheep's skin—and get under the wool industry's skin—by shopping for cruelty-free clothing

Written by Heather Faraid Drennan

"Ethically handsome" blogger Joshua Katcher, a multitalented artist, a writer, a producer, and an eco-style guru, has created an epically handsome ad that shares some baaad (sorry) news about one of climate change's lesser-known black sheep (sorry)—the wool industry:

Did you know that sheep outnumber people by more than four to one in Australia, one of the world's largest wool-marketing nations? Not only do all those poor sheep create an awful lot of climate-cooking methane gas as a result of, ahem, "enteric fermentation," they also produce an enormous amount of waste, which contributes to both air and water pollution. Sheep farmers also love to douse animals with toxic "sheep dip" and advocate killing off all manner of wildlife (kangaroos, dingoes, and rabbits in Australia and coyotes in the U.S.) in cruel ways (poisoning, trapping, etc.) because they compete with sheep for land and, in some cases, harass and kill sheep before the farmers can do that themselves. And don't even get me started on the mulesing mulitation, which is definitely in the running for the world's cruelest "standard agricultural practice."

So, if a fleecy three-piece is out, what shall Cinderfella wear to the boardroom? Try this on for size, you handsome devil angel, you.

Via The Discerning Brute

Written by Alisa Mullins

The suffering that is being caused by the oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico is heartbreaking, and this brand-new PETA T-shirt speaks volumes about the crisis.

The most valuable thing about this touching, tell-it-like-it-is T-shirt and related merch is that the proceeds will go toward PETA's work to save wildlife from all sorts of horrors. So, for the love of Kevin Costner and wildlife in peril, buy a T-shirt and give BP a piece of your mind at the same time.

Written by Amy Skylark Elizabeth

Delia's clothing company used to be one of several retailers that sold Ringling Bros. T-shirts.

I say "used to be" because today, the company's CEO contacted us to say that Delia's will be pulling the shirts from its Web site, its stores, and its October catalog by this Friday, September 11.

Thanks to the countless concerned people who took the time to write and call the company to ask it to stop promoting Ringling's cruel treatment of animals.

We hope that you'll take a second to write to Delia's and thank it for making the compassionate decision.

Written by Shawna Flavell