14 DAY TRIAL // Swedish multinational retail-clothing company H&M has announced that, at least for a while, it will stop making angora wool items.
The company took this decision after animal rights activists with PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) carried out an undercover investigation and revealed the horrible abuses that angora rabbits suffer at the hands of fur farm workers.
PETA's undercover footage hit the online community only a few days ago. It was shot in China, and shows rabbits having the fur ripped of their skin and screaming in pain.
In a press release, H&M details that, following PETA's releasing this video, it will halt the production of angora wool clothing items until it makes sure that its suppliers treat rabbits in a humane way and do not abuse them.
“H&M will immediately stop the production of all angora products until we have secured that our strict Product Policy is being followed. H&M doesn’t accept that animals are treated badly. We only allow products made of angora rabbit hair from farms with good animal husbandry,” the company says.
In order to make sure that its suppliers are not guilty of animal cruelty, H&M plans to carry out thorough inspections at the fur farms it is currently working with, and see for itself how workers treat the angora rabbits kept in captivity as these facilities.
“We will now accelerate further inspections of our sub-suppliers to ensure compliance with our policy,” the company explains.
Interestingly enough, H&M is willing to take back any angora wool clothing items that people bought before PETA released its shocking footage and that some might no longer want to see hanging in their closet. What's more, it will offer a refund.
“Concerned customers are of course welcome to return an angora product bought at H&M and get a full refund,” the company writes on its website.
While H&M's decision can indeed be considered a major win for the animal rights activists, odds are that both PETA and its supporters would have preferred that the retail-clothing company and others of its kind quit making and selling fur items altogether.