Patagonia Given ‘Pants on Fire’ Award From PETA

Brand Slams Climate Change Deniers While Fueling Climate Change by Selling Wool

For Immediate Release:
September 16, 2020

Contact:
Moira Colley 202-483-7382

Patagonia’s new tags reading, “Vote the Assholes Out”—a message that the brand says “refers to politicians from any party who deny or disregard the climate crisis”—have just earned it a special Pants on Fire Award from PETA, as the company is denying its own role in harming animals and the environment.

The “liar, liar, pants on fire” award condemns and shames Patagonia for selling wool while portraying itself as a humane and environmentally conscious brand. As PETA points out in the award notification sent to the company today, the wool industry is notorious for—and its worker have been caught on video time and time again—beating, kicking, and mutilating sheep. It’s also a major producer of methane, a potent greenhouse gas that contributes to climate change and the catastrophes that come with it—including the wildfires that are sweeping through California. Today’s clothing never needs to come from farming animals—using animals for fashion is neither ethical nor environmentally sound, and to throw stones at others is less than honest.

“PETA isn’t letting Patagonia masquerade as a climate-conscious brand while it hawks wool sweaters,” says PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman. “Patagonia’s pants are on fire—and so is California, in part because the wool industry is spewing out pollutants that are heating up the Earth.”

There is nothing eco-friendly about wool, as sheep are ruminant animals with digestive systems that constantly generate methane, a greenhouse gas that’s 25 times more potent than carbon dioxide. Data from the Higg Materials Sustainability Index show that because of the greenhouse-gas emissions created during its production, wool has a far greater impact on global warming than synthetic options.

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to wear”—opposes speciesism, a human supremacist worldview. The group’s letter to Patagonia is available upon request. For more information, please visit PETA.org.