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Inditex ends use of angora

By Kristopher Fraser

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Angora lovers everywhere should hope that they got every item made with angora that Zara had to offer under the Christmas tree two months ago, because on the morning of February 9th, 2015, Inditex, the parent company of Zara and Massimo Dutti, announced that it has stopped using angora due to cruelty to the rabbits that the fur is plucked from in China. A spokeswoman for Inditex commented in a press release saying, “The Angora products have been removed from our stores, in particular items that were in last year’s autumn and winter collections.”

Part of this was due to Inditex bowing to increasing pressure from animal rights group Peta. Peta launched an effort in 2013 to try and get designers and fashion companies to stop using angora, and they have now managed to get Inditex to join a list of brands including H&M, Topshop, and Primark in forbidding the use of angora in their products. While angora can also be extracted from goats and cats, the majority of angora does come from rabbits.

While there are no animal protection laws in China forbidding this, Inditex has agreed to stop selling angora products in all 6400 of their stores worldwide. The good news is, instead of merely discarding warehouse items made from Angora, Inditex has decided to donate all their Angora products, which is a total of 20,000 items valued collectively at 878,000 dollars, to Syrian refugees in Lebanon. While an end may have been brought about to Zara’s fashionable angora products at least it is going towards a good cause.

Inditex had originally intended to only suspend their orders of Angora products until it could very that Angora supply farmers were in compliance with company standards on how Angora was produced. While Inditex denies that was any evidence of animal cruelty, the company decided after consulting with animal rights activists and trying to find more sustainable ways to produce angora that their next approach would be to halt use of angora all together. While customers might have to bid goodbye to Zara’s selection of angora products, rest assured the global retailer still has plenty of warm wool options, although those angora hats and sweaters will be sorely missed, especially during a cold winter’s day.

Angora
Inditex
PETA
Zara