Jumping on the bandwagon against the use of Angora is now Danish apparel retailer Bestseller. Bestseller is the latest among brands, which have stopped using Angora in their products keeping animal welfare in mind. Recently, Italian brand Benetton had banned the use of angora wool in all its collections. The fibre is extracted from Angora rabbits, reared in farms in China mainly.
The issue at the heart of the movement is live-plucking or mulesing of rabbits, which amounts to hurting the animals for the manufacturing of products. Since this goes against animal welfare policy of many companies, to do away with this fibre has become their prime agenda as for now.
Katrine Milman, CSR Responsible, said it is still unclear, in the absence of any evidence, whether the farm houses involved in producing the Angora fibres are using these methods. However, this situation of uncertainty does not give us leeway to take the chance on animal welfare. The company’s decision is in line with its animal welfare policy that no real fur can be used in products it makes.
Earlier this year, Inditex, the firm at the helm of brands such as Zara and Massimo Dutti, had also banned the use of Angora wools permanently over the same issue.
