Inditex, the world’s largest clothing company, on Friday said it will donate 30,000 new angora wool products — its remaining supply — with a retail value of more than $1 million to refugee camps in Sulaimaniya and Diyala, Iraq. The parent of Zara, Pull & Bear, Massimo Dutti and Bershka signed a pledge agreeing to refrain from using the fur of angora rabbits after learning from a PETA expose that the animals’ fur is ripped or violently cut from their skin.
More than 110 retailers have permanently banned angora wool, including H&M, Ann Inc., Bebe, French Connection, ASOS, Calvin Klein, Stella McCartney and Tommy Hilfiger, after becoming aware of the conditions the rabbits live and die under, PETA said. According to the animal rights organization, the rabbits live for years in isolation in small, filthy wire cages until they are sheared. The PETA investigation in Japan found that the rabbits scream in pain as their fur in removed.
“Inditex’s gift is providing a little warmth and kindness in a tragedy-stricken corner of our world,” said PETA president Ingrid Newkirk.