Duchess of Cambridge to Receive Birthday Gift From PETA—With a Fashionable Vegan Twist

Group Sends Faux-Wool Jacket Fit for Kate’s Royal Wardrobe

For Immediate Release:
January 8, 2015

Contact:
Moira Colley 202-483-7382

Courtesy of PETA U.K., a birthday gift that’s equal parts chic and animal-friendly is on its way to Kate Middleton, who turns 33 on January 9. Middleton will receive a high-end faux-wool coat from New York vegan boutique Vaute Couture, a classic piece with all the elegance and style the duchess is well accustomed to with none of the cruelty that inherently comes with wool.

You can see an image of the coat here.

“Fashion is about more than looking good—it’s also a statement about who you are and what you stand for,” says PETA UK Founder and PETA President Ingrid E. Newkirk. “By wearing her new vegan coat, the duchess will be setting a great example and sending women the message that they can have top-notch style without hurting animals.”

In a letter accompanying the coat, PETA U.K. points to an international exposé of the wool industry in the U.S. and Australia—the source of 90 percent of the world’s merino wool—which revealed that workers violently punched scared sheep in the face, stomped and stood on the animals’ heads and necks, and beat and jabbed them in the face with electric clippers and a hammer. Some sheep even died from the abuse, including one whose neck was twisted until the animal died.

On its website, PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to wear”—offers tips for finding clothing and accessories that spare sheep and other animals a lifetime of suffering.

For more information about helping animals, please visit PETA.org.