Victoria’s Secret Show Goes from 620,000 Feathers to Zero
PETA Ensures That Feathers Fly Out of Fashion
At the last Victoria’s Secret fashion show, every one of the elaborate feathered “angel wings” – including Gigi Hadid’s impressive plumage (below)– was crafted from vegan materials. The company had previously used some 620,000 feathers plucked from ostriches, pheasants, and chickens for a single show, but, after talking with PETA and seeing PETA entities’ bombshell exposés into how birds’ feathers are obtained, the company created showstopping looks that used everything from 3-D printed materials and quilted satin to soda can tabs and Swarovski crystals – leaving birds in peace.
It isn’t the first time that the lingerie leader has helped animals. Also following conversations with PETA, Victoria’s Secret had already banned fur, cashmere, alpaca, mohair, angora, merino wool, and wild-animal skins, and it doesn’t use down either. The company’s modern moves earned it PETA’s 2024 Company of the Year award.
PETA’s investigations into the largest ostrich-slaughter companies in the world, which kill these curious and smart birds for the plumage and skin that is theirs, not ours, showed workers violently forcing terrified young birds into restraint devices and slitting their throats in full view of their flockmates. Peacock farms keep as many as 10,000 birds in cramped, deplorable conditions where sickness and injuries run rampant. A PETA Asia investigation of duck farms and slaughterhouses that supply down labeled “responsible” showed that conscious birds are stabbed in the neck and dismembered.
But most feathers used for fashion – including those labeled “marabou” – are taken from gentle, family-oriented chickens and turkeys. Most of the birds spend their lives in cramped, ammonia-reeking warehouses until they are shackled upside down and their throats are cut.
Feathers provide a lucrative additional revenue stream for poultry producers since they can be sold at a much higher price per pound than birds’ flesh, meaning that anyone who buys feathers or down is propping up the egg and meat business.
Global Trendsetters Are Migrating Away From Cruelty to Birds
Following conversations with PETA entities, accessories giant Claire’s will now stop purchasing feathers, and Copenhagen Fashion Week, Helsinki Fashion Week, and Ibiza Fashion Festival have banned them from catwalks. Melbourne Fashion Week instituted protections for ostriches, peacocks, and emus, and PETA Australia is pushing for a full prohibition. Formerly feathery Strictly Come Dancing confirmed the show is moving to faux, and H&M nabbed PETA UK’s Best High-Street Fashion Moment of 2024 for axing newly produced down.
PETA’s 2024 Person of the Year, Stella McCartney, launched a campaign urging designers and retailers to sign PETA’s Feather-Free Pledge, which has already secured commitments from Felder Felder, Richard Malone, Patrick McDowell, VIN + OMI, Pīferi, Sarah Regensburger, Gymshark, and SkinnyDip London.
Birds Are for Watching, Not Wearing
While ostriches don’t bury their heads in the sand, some fashion industry execs do, but we are digging them out. Holding signs proclaiming, “Feathers Are Worn by Beautiful Birds and Ugly People,” a PETA UK supporter stormed the red carpet at The Fashion Awards at the Royal Albert Hall, and a group dressed as bloodied birds landed at London Fashion Week. With an avian ensemble and a “F*ck Feathers!” sign, a PETA France member flew onto Dior’s Paris runway. And feathers will continue to fly until fowl fashion is a thing of the past.
