Mohair jumpers and scarves will not be sold in Zara, H&M and Topshop from 2020, as many high street stores have chosen to ban the fabric following a Peta exposé that showed Angora goats farmed for the fabric being mistreated and abused.
Peta shared the undercover footage with large fashion conglomerates such as Inditex, Arcadia and H&M both of which have promised to no longer stock mohair products from 2020.
The upsetting footage, filmed in 12 farms in South Africa, shows goats being mutilated and violently handled. It is has not been revealed whether any of the retailers sourced mohair from the 12 farms investigated by Peta.
Inditex, which owns Zara, Bershka, Pull&Bear and more, told HuffPost UK: “Inditex deplores the cruel practices on South African mohair farms uncovered by PETA. Following constructive discussions with Peta, Inditex has decided to phase out the small number of products we sell containing mohair, and committed that all its products will be completely mohair-free by 2020”.
An H&M spokesperson similarly told HuffPost UK, “For us it is of utmost importance that animals are treated well and we have therefore decided to permanently ban mohair. We have been in close dialogue with Peta for several years and fully agree with them on this matter.”
And a spokesperson for Arcadia, which owns Topshop and Miss Selfridge among others said they were concerned to learn of video footage obtained by Peta showing poor treatment of Angora goats to obtain Mohair fibre and “we have therefore committed to stop sourcing any new goods containing Mohair.”