ASOS To Ban The Sale Of Products Made With Mohair, Cashmere, Feathers & More But Why Is Leather OK? It’s Not!

Photo from Animal Trust Organization

ASOS, a global online fashion platform which sells more than 850 labels as well as its own-brand clothing and accessories, has announced that it will ban the sale of products made with cashmere, down, and feathers by the end of January 2019.

The online retailing powerhouse made the decision to not only join the more than 150 international retailers, including Topshop, H&M, and Forever 21, in the banning of cruelly obtained material, it has gone a step further by widening the category.

ASOS’ decision also includes banning items made from animal bone or silk which is the fiber that silkworms weave to make their cocoons. As per PETA, to obtain silk, distributors often boil the worms alive inside their cocoons. Some 6,600 silkworms are killed to make just 1 kilogram of silk.

“PETA applauds ASOS for leading the charge for compassion in fashion,” PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman said in a statement. “In response to PETA’s campaigns, consumers are changing the face of the industry by demanding that designers and retailers ditch animal-derived materials in favor of cruelty-free alternatives that look great without causing suffering.”

But then there is this…

“ASOS firmly believes it is not acceptable for animals to suffer in the name of fashion or cosmetics,” notes the company’s updated animal welfare policy on its website. “No animals should be slaughtered specifically to produce products sold through any of ASOS’ websites. All animal materials used must be by-products of the meat industry.”

What?

While WAN also applauds ASOS’ recent decision to ban certain items that are made with cruelly obtained components, we question why animal materials that are made from by-products of the meat industry are acceptable.

They are not!

“Only cow, buffalo, sheep, goat or pig leather or skin, sourced as a by-product of the meat industry and from producers with good animal husbandry can be used in products sold through any of ASOS’ websites,” the company, which is a member of the Leather Working Group which is working towards sourcing all skins from LWG rated tanneries, to ensure good environmental compliance and traceability, states on its website.

May this be the first important step to the company’s monumental leap to also ban items that are made from animal leather or skin regardless of where it is sourced from.

Animals tragically continue to be used and abused in the meat industry for many selfish and unnecessary reasons. That needs to stop.

Animals should not be food or fashion!