Animal welfare protesters outside H&M's annual meeting in Sweden today, citing the abuse of ducks ... [+]
If were in Solna, Sweden yesterday, you may have seen the giant “ducks” outside the annual general meeting of H&M, courtesy of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals supporters and local animal welfare groups such as Animals Save Sweden and Direct Action Everywhere Stockholm.
The annual general meeting is taking place at the Karolinska Institutet. Besides protesters on the ground, PETA had a representative at the annual meeting, a shareholder, who introduced a shareholder resolution about animal welfare. The resolution called on H&M Group’s board of directors to prepare a report on the slaughter methods used to procure down for the company.
The action follows a PETA Asia investigation into Vina Prauden — a Vietnamese company that has supplied down to H&M and revealed ducks suffering from gaping and bloody wounds, languishing in dirty sheds and lots strewn with feces, and being stabbed in the neck while still conscious. Many of the birds continued to move for more than a minute after workers cut their necks, PETA said.
PETA’s investigation also found that workers at a slaughterhouse that provided down for Vina Prauden, workers violently grabbed birds and stepped on them to restrain them. The ducks were dragged through an electrified water bath that paralyzed them but didn’t render them unconscious. A worker stabbed them in the neck and left them hanging and bleeding out.
Yvonne Taylor, vice president of corporate affairs at PETA, said H&M’s treatment of ducks used for down in puffer jackets and other products is “totally grim.”
“In previous years, H&M has allowed the PETA representative to speak,” Taylor said. “Normally, it’s like PETA U.S. asking the question. This year, it’s a little different because of the shareholder resolution. Hopefully, it will go ahead. It’s not only feathers for down, but ornamental feathers as we saw at the Met Gala on Monday.”
The annual general meeting voted against the proposal and the CEO and the chairman of the board of directors replied to PETA’s questions during the meeting, an H&M spokesman said.
Rather than trying to invoke The Responsible Down Standard or RDS, which is a sham, according to Taylor, H&M must be more transparent about its down-gathering process. “H&M recently removed the RDS label from its offerings, indicating that it knows the RDS is a sham,” Taylor said. “The company provides no information about the farms and slaughterhouses that supply down for its products.
“PETA is saying that rather than trying to scrub the connections to any suppliers, H&M must take a positively impactful action immediately,” Taylor said. “PETA’s message to the public is that every down item manufactured represents the pain and suffering of terrified birds. We encourage everyone not to buy down and go to the PETA website to view the footage and send a quick message to H&M.”
“At H&M Group, animal welfare is important to us and no animals should be harmed in the making of our products,” an H&M spokesman said. “We have a long-standing commitment to improving animal welfare across our global supply chain and we are working to source all animal-derived materials from certified farms with improved animal welfare policies in place. Our ambition is to only source animal fibers from farms that have been certified as set out in our animal welfare policy.”
There have been other investigations into down-gathering by PETA entities, Taylor said. The recent one in Asia was the ninth of its kind. There were also links, PETA found, to other companies as well, including Marks & Spencer, Gap
A growing number of brands offer down-free products. In fact, H&M introduced its own down-free collection, the Co-exist collection, as part of a sustainable capsule of vegan styles. The coat was filled with dried wildflowers rather than down. “Once they were aware of the inherent cruelty involved they refused to drop down all together,” Taylor said, referring to H&M.
“In the past, PETA U.S. successfully worked behind the scenes with H&M in order to reduce their use of animal-derived products, including down,” Taylor said. “It’s a little different with the shareholder resolution.
“H&M has tried to save face and protect its business image rather than show genuine concern for the suffering of these gentle birds which are hung upside down and have their throats stabbed before their feathers are stuffed into H&M’s jackets and duvets,” Taylor said. “Their first reaction should have been to make a commitment to ban down.”
PETA believes all feathers are stolen. The organization’s efforts to eliminate animal fur from the fashion industry have been largely successful, with designers such as Michael Kors and Marc Jacobs jumping on the anti-fur bandwagon.
“If you talk to most people about the fur industry they have a clear understanding about how the animals are reared and how they’re killed,” Taylor said. “There isn't that awareness about the feather industry. It’s not that people aren't compassionate. We know that when they see the footage, they’re horrified and say, ‘I didn't know that happens.’”
