Canada Goose Gets PETA Protestors on Black Friday
Canada Goose had one of the busiest shopping days of the year interrupted by racous protestors.
Roughly 200-plus animal rights activists led by members of the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals gathered in the late afternoon of Black Friday outside the year-old Canada Goose store in New York’s SoHo neighborhood. The block of Wooster Street where the store is located is home to a number of luxury and fashion brands, including Chanel, Balmain and Ted Baker.
While dozens of shoppers inside the Canada Goose store appeared to be doing little more than waiting out the protestors and a sizable crowd that had gathered to stare, photograph and in a few instances join in, PETA activists chanted, held signs and handed out fliers graphically describing and disparaging the use of down and coyote fur in Canada Goose’s popular winter coats.
A representative of Canada Goose could not be reached for comment.
”Canada Goose has blood on its hands!” and “Fur isn’t fashion! Where the hell is your compassion!” were among the protest chants on rotation, but other activists had their own methods.
A blonde woman dressed in black holding a white poster with “Animal fur isn’t fashion” written in simple black maker and draped with a fur stole yelled at multiple people walking by the scene with a pet and asked if they would “skin and wear it.” Others began walking through the crowd that had formed across the street, and lamely harangued those wearing leather and fur.
”Oh, I’m sure everyone thinks you’re so cool for wearing that,” one protestor said to a man wearing a cream jacket with a fur collar. The man turned and left.
There were roughly 10 policemen and women on the scene, but the protest was not violent and around 5 p.m, they began breaking up onlookers, telling them it was illegal to block the sidewalk.
PETA was also set to protest a Canada Goose store in Boston on what the group has dubbed “Fur-Free Friday.”
Canada Goose has been a point of ire for PETA for several years, in part because the brand claims to use “ethically sourced” materials.
The group has staged protests of Canada Goose before and last month, outspoken PETA member Pamela Anderson emailed more than 800 of the brand’s employees, describing the use of traps for wild coyotes and pointing out that a number of brands, like The North Face and Patagonia, have gone fur- and down-free.
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