Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sánchez Bezos Receive PETA Award for Backing Animal-Free Fashion
For Immediate Release:
April 30, 2026
Contact:
Moira Colley 202-483-7382
Following the Bezos Earth Fund’s new commitment to award $34 million in grants to develop sustainable, animal-free textiles, PETA is sending Executive Chair Jeff Bezos and Vice Chair Lauren Sánchez Bezos a Compassionate Leadership Award. The grants, announced on April 24, support groundbreaking research at institutions including the University of California, Berkeley and Columbia University to create high-quality, vegan materials that don’t harm a hair on an animal’s head.
The funding will support scientists developing next-generation, biodegradable textiles—including by growing fiber from bacteria and creating silk-like fibers from compost. PETA notes that in the fashion industry, billions of silkworms are boiled alive or gassed in their cocoons every year to produce silk, and cows killed for leather endure castration, tail-docking, and dehorning—all without painkillers—and are often skinned and dismembered while they’re still conscious.
“The Bezos Earth Fund is helping revolutionize fashion by funding the creation of cutting-edge vegan materials that spare animals’ lives,” says PETA President Tracy Reiman. “PETA is celebrating Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sánchez Bezos for championing innovation and helping fashion innovation that will mean a kind future.”
PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to wear”—points out that when it comes to the ability to feel pain, hunger, and thirst, a cow is a dog is a boy. For more information, please visit PETA.org or follow PETA on X, Facebook, or Instagram.
