

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
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