Reformation Stock Snatched Up by PETA: Retailer to Face Pressure Over Wool and Leather Sales

When fashion retailer Reformation debuted on the open market today, PETA was among the first to purchase the stock—enough to attend annual meetings and pressure executives to stop selling products made from tormented animals’ skins, hair, and wool and switch entirely to sustainable vegan materials.

The purchase comes after a recent PETA Asia investigation into a farm certified by NATIVA—a purportedly “responsible” wool brand sold by Reformation—documented shearers kicking and stomping on terrified sheep, dragging them by their legs, and leaving them with gaping, bloody wounds after crude shearing. PETA previously named Reformation its 2023 “Greenwasher of the Year” for marketing itself as a “sustainable” company while selling mostly products made from animal skin, cashmere, and wool—all of which harm the planet.

Inside a wool operation in New Zealand. Shearing is a terrifying ordeal for sheep, who are often left bleeding and bruised as shearers—usually paid for speed—race to shear as many animals in as little time as possible. Credit: PETA Asia

“If Reformation wants to live up to its purported values, it’ll stop hiding behind greenwashed marketing schemes and rid its shelves of the skin, hair, and wool of abused animals,” says PETA President Tracy Reiman. “With this stock purchase, PETA will push Reformation to do right by animals, the planet, and consumers by switching exclusively to luxurious and sustainable vegan materials. After all, it’s 2026 and no-one needs to dress like cave people.”

PETA entities have released 17 exposés of over 150 wool industry operations in seven countries on four continents—including on self-proclaimed “ethical” and “responsible” farms—each revealing rampant cruelty and violence to sheep, highly social animals who grow distressed if isolated from their flock. PETA entities have also released multiple exposés revealing that alpacas are hit, kicked, restrained, and mutilated for their wool; goats are pinned down and their hair is ripped out with sharp metal combs for cashmere; and cows are burned, electroshocked, beaten, and slaughtered for leather.

In addition to the cruelty inherent to raising and killing animals for clothing, the production of wool, leather, and cashmere is also environmentally disastrous: sheep, cows, and goats emit massive quantities of greenhouse gases, including methane; their urine and feces contaminate nearby soil and water; and forests, including the Amazon, are cleared to make room for grazing animals.

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 sheep is a dog is a boy. For more information, please visit PETA.org or follow PETA on X, Facebook, or Instagram.