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December 1, 2023
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Moira Colley 202-483-7382
Vancouver – Business industry crew Textile Alternate (TE)—whose certifications are utilized by in the community headquartered manufacturers Aritzia, lululemon, and Arc’teryx—is the topic of a formal PETA criticism to the federal Festival Bureau alleging that TE’s “Accountable Down Usual” (RDS) and “Accountable Animal Fiber” (RAF) labels are deceptive and misinform shoppers. The criticism follows a couple of PETA exposés of the down trade revealing that grime, struggling, and violent deaths are trade norms and happen even on licensed farms.
Aritzia, lululemon, and Arc’teryx all boast about their RDS and RAF certifications—which TE created following a couple of PETA’s exposés—encouraging shoppers to shop for their merchandise beneath the idea that the animals used to supply them have been handled humanely. PETA’s criticism asserts that TE and the corporations that use its labels make advertising and marketing claims that misinform shoppers whether or not through design or by chance:
- TE claims that its farms meet “strict animal welfare requirements” and that “animals are nicely cared for and not handled with cruelty”—but its requirements permit use of the “accountable” label on merchandise for weeks after inspectors in finding violations. PETA Asia’s contemporary investigation into Vietnamese duck farms and slaughterhouses that offered “accountable” down displays geese affected by gaping and bloody wounds, languishing in grimy sheds and on quite a bit strewn with feces, and being stabbed within the neck and their toes being bring to a halt whilst nonetheless mindful.
- TE claims that its farms are independently audited, however the audits are most often preannounced, and beneath its space certification scheme, some farms might by no means be visited through an unbiased auditor. PETA Asia’s investigation printed {that a} farm in Russia that was once reportedly RDS-certified didn’t even know that it was once and have been failing to stun birds earlier than hacking off their heads with a lifeless awl.
- TE claims that it tracks the availability chain of its licensed down “from farm to ultimate product,” however it doesn’t require each and every mum or dad farm that provides eggs and hatchlings to also be licensed. Mum or dad farms subsequently frequently live-pluck birds, a painful and disturbing procedure—prohibited through TE’s requirements—wherein their feathers are torn out whilst they’re mindful. This procedure is repeated as soon as the feathers develop again and may also be inflicted as much as 16 instances earlier than the hen dies or is slaughtered.
“If shoppers knew that geese have been stabbed and their toes have been bring to a halt whilst nonetheless mindful for ‘accountable’ down, they’d by no means purchase those merchandise,” says PETA Director of Company Accountability Laura Shields. “PETA is urging the Festival Bureau to research Textile Alternate’s misleading advertising and marketing scheme that misleads well-intentioned customers at shops like lululemon, Aritzia, and Arc’teryx.”
PETA’s criticism asks the Festival Bureau to require TE to take away all deceptive statements from its advertising and marketing and factor corrective explanations that expose how the animals on its licensed farms are in truth handled.
PETA—whose motto reads, partially, that “animals don’t seem to be ours to put on or abuse in every other means”—opposes speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview. For more info on PETA’s investigative newsgathering and reporting, please discuss with PETA.org, pay attention to The PETA Podcast, or practice the crowd on X (previously Twitter), Fb, or Instagram.