From the fashion runways in Milan to the shipyards in Australia, PETA defended animals against torture and slaughter in the fur, leather, and wool industries.

In 2007, three fashion VIPs—Calvin Klein, Tommy Hilfiger, and Vivienne Westwood—banned fur from their collections after meeting with representatives from PETA and PETA Europe. Vivienne Westwood’s company even donated its remaining rabbit fur bags to wildlife rehabilitators for use as bedding for baby animals.

At PETA’s request, clothing chain Chico’s, International watchmaker Swatch, and lingerie retailer Forplay stopped selling fur. “[T]he Swatch Group Ltd. do[es] not want to be associated with cruelty to animals,” the company stated in a letter to PETA, while Forplay’s CEO wrote, “I hope that our efforts will spare the lives of some animals.”

Fashion retailer Polo Ralph Lauren had 1,200 fur coats remaining after pledging to PETA last year to stop selling fur. In 2007, the company donated the coats to PETA to be distributed to needy people in Mongolia.

PETA continued its annual partnership with New York’s prestigious Parsons The New School for Design and acclaimed designer Marc Bouwer to teach fashion students about the cruelty involved in the production of fur, wool, and leather and to promote cruelty-free alternatives. PETA also teamed up with Marc for the official launch of his new vegan line during New York Fashion Week, where he became the first major designer to stage a show completely free of animal skins and fibers.

Celebrities play an important role in getting our message out to people who otherwise might not hear it. Participating in PETA’s high-profile ads and events to urge people to go fur-free were actors Pamela Anderson, Eva Mendes, and Aimee Teegarden; Oscar nominee Julie Christie; top designer Stella McCartney; French Olympic skating champion Surya Bonaly; model-turned-mogul Janice Dickinson; and reality-show stars Stephen “Steve-O” Glover (Jackass) and Holly Madison (The Girls Next Door).

PETA kept up the pressure on British fashion house Burberry, which continues to sell fur even after PETA showed executives video footage of how animals caught in traps often resort to chewing off their own legs in order to escape and how animals on fur farms are gassed or electrocuted or have their necks broken. We held more than 332 protests outside shopping malls and Burberry boutiques across the country urging shoppers to boycott Burberry until it stops selling fur.

In an enormously important battle against the cruelty of the Australian wool industry, PETA prevailed in an unprecedented lawsuit that was brought by Australian Wool Innovation (AWI) when the trade group withdrew its lawsuit against us. The lawsuit had been filed in an effort to quash our campaign to end “mulesing,” a cruel and cheap method of reducing maggot infestation in sheep that involves using gardening shears to cut chunks of skin and flesh from lambs’ backsides—without the use of painkillers. AWI has now pledged to fast-track the development of humane alternatives to mulesing.

On behalf of PETA, Academy Award nominee Joaquin Phoenix sent a plea to Australia’s agriculture minister urging him to end mulesing mutilations and the export of live sheep for slaughter in countries without animal welfare laws.

“PETA has perfected the art of using celebrity—and racy or offbeat images—to deliver animal-rights messages that might otherwise be rebuffed.”

—LATimes.com, September 24, 2007