M&S, Next, Primark & Mango among retailers to ban mohair

London - The list of fashion companies to turn their back on mohair following a expose highlighting the animal cruelty linked to the mohair industry continues to grow. Marks & Spencer, Next and Primark have joined the likes of Inditex, Gap Inc, Hennes & Mauritz AB, Arcadia Group, Monsoon Accessorize, Fat Face, The White Company and Esprit in banning the material.

The ban on mohair comes after animal rights organisation PETA released an expose earlier this month depicting numerous cases of animal cruelty at 12 farms in South Africa. Footage from the organisation shows workers dragging goats by their horns and legs, throwing them, and cutting them while shearing them. As more than 50 percent of the world’s mohair comes from South Africa, a growing number of international brands have pledged to stop using the material until proper animal welfare legislation is in place.

While some fashion retailers have pledged to remove all mohair from their collections by 2020, arguing that it is more sustainable to sell what products have already been made and honour orders which have already been placed, others have halted all buying of mohair fibre flat out. “Next uses a very small amount of mohair fibre in a limited range of its products," said a spokesperson from Next.

"Due to the small amount being sourced, Next had already recognised the challenge of tracing the mohair fibre back to the farm, so it was unable to ensure the welfare of the animals is being upheld. Based on this, Next made the decision to ban the use of mohair in its future collections from 2019 onwards”. The H&M Group previously highlighted that the supply chain for mohair production is “challenging to control, as a credible standard does not exist,” a sentiment other fashion retailers agree with.

The South African mohair industry previously responded to PETA’s explicit expose, arguing that while they consider much of “the report and accompanying footage to be factually incorrect and a misrepresentation of the South African mohair industry, some isolated issues have been raised.”

Photo: PETA