VICTORY: BENETTON SUCCUMBS TO PRESSURE, BANS ANGORA

VICTORY: BENETTON SUCCUMBS TO PRESSURE, BANS ANGORA

Italian Fashion Giant Makes Pledge After Multi-Pronged PETA Campaign

London – Less than 24 hours after PETA kicked its campaign to rid Benetton of angora into high gear with a day of nationally coordinated action, the Italian clothing company has bowed to pressure and banned angora across its approximately 6,000 stores worldwide.

"Benetton Group confirms the decision to stop using angora wool in all its collections sold around the world", the company communicated via a statement on its website.

Yesterday, compassionate people – fed up with the store's refusal to commit to a ban on a product that is often made by tearing the hair out of screaming rabbits' skin – made their feelings known. In London, a crowd of protesters gathered outside Benetton's flagship Regent Street store for a protest that added a twist to the brand's well-known United Colors campaign. Across the UK, PETA supporters coordinated calls to Benetton branches, and hundreds of people made their voices heard on social media, including by taking part in a Thunderclap, sending out this hard-hitting tweet simultaneously and reaching more than 340,000 people.

"By committing to ending the use of angora wool in all of its future collections, Benetton has done the right thing for animals and consumers", says PETA Director Mimi Bekhechi. "Angora production is cruel, and PETA urges the few remaining retailers still selling this vile product to learn from Benetton's experience and show the public that cruelty to animals has no place in their stores."

An unprecedented investigation by PETA Asia of angora rabbit farms in China, the source of 90 per cent of the world's angora, revealed that workers violently rip the fur out of rabbits' skin as the animals scream in pain. After they endure this torment every three months for two to five years, their throats are slit and the skin is ripped from their bodies. These are standard practices in the barbaric angora industry. Regardless of whether the rabbits have been plucked or sheared, if a label says "angora", it means that rabbits have suffered. There quite simply is no way to obtain angora responsibly, which is why so many companies have switched to humane, animal-free fabrics, which are readily available.

Broadcast-quality video footage and photos from the investigation are available upon request.

To view an updated list of retailers that no longer sell angora, please "" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">http://blog.peta.org.uk/?p=8989/>">click here. For more information, please visitPETA.org.uk.