Victory! Vince Holding Corp. Bans Alpaca After PETA Appeal

For Immediate Release:
June 14, 2021

Contact:
Moira Colley 202-483-7382

After meeting with PETA and viewing the group’s first-of-its-kind exposé revealing that crying alpacas were roughly shorn, cut open, and left bleeding from deep wounds, Manhattan-based high-end fashion company Vince Holding Corp. has agreed to ban alpaca fleece from all its brands, which include Vince, Rebecca Taylor, and Parker. In thanks, PETA is sending the company a box of delicious vegan chocolates.

“No one should be terrorized and cut up for a scarf or a sweater,” says PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman. “PETA is cheering Vince Holding Corp.’s compassionate decision to recognize alpacas as individuals, not clothing, and leave their fleece off its racks.”

PETA’s investigative footage shows that workers slammed alpacas—some of whom were pregnant—onto tables, tied them tightly by the legs to a rack, and pulled hard, nearly wrenching their legs out of their sockets. The terrified animals spit, cried out, and vomited in fear as workers grabbed them by the ears, roughly sheared them, crudely stitched up their bloody cuts, and threw them to the concrete floor.

Vince Holding Corp. previously banned mohair after a PETA exposé and appeal. The company now joins Valentino, Lands’ End, Williams Sonoma, UNIQLO, Esprit, Ann Taylor, LOFT, Columbia, Express, and many other brands in banning alpaca—and PETA is calling on Anthropologie to follow suit.

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to wear”—opposes speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview. Photos from the investigation are available here. For more information, please visit PETA.org or follow the group on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram.