PETA Questions How Selling Down-Stuffed Clothing Aligns With Lululemon’s ‘Core Values’
The People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals isn’t letting up on Lululemon.
At Lululemon’s June 7 annual meeting, the animal welfare organization will use its status as a shareholder to “ruffle feathers” and press leadership to “stop misleading shoppers with deceptive ‘responsible’ down labels” and to ditch down altogether instead.
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“The feathers in every down-filled jacket that Lululemon sells came from terrified birds who were violently slaughtered,” Tracey Reiman, PETA executive vice president, said. “PETA is calling on the company to make good on its promise to ‘do big, challenging, and important things for each other and our planet’ by dropping down.”
PETA will take aim at Lululemon’s core values. Though the Vancouver athleticwear company claims that it acts “with honesty and integrity and take full accountability for its choices and their impact,” PETA wants to know how those values are compatible with selling products made with down, a material linked to animal cruelty. PETA alleges that the Textile Exchange’s Responsible Down Standard (RDS), which Lululemon uses to promote its products, is a “marketing ploy that fails to protect animals.” It wants Lululemon to “embrace its own values, take accountability for its choices and help end the torture and killing of countless birds by nixing down.”
Lululemon customer and shareholder Chris C. Allan also has questions for company executives, according to PETA’s senior corporate responsibility officer Jacqui Sadashige.
“I first purchased stock in Lululemon because I thought, ‘Here’s a company that speaks to me. Not only do its products fit my lifestyle, the brand itself also seems to align with my own values of empowerment and compassion.’ I wish I could say the same were still true today,” Allan said. “As a native Canadian, I have a particular fondness for geese and other waterfowl. I was horrified when I learned that these lovely and loyal birds, who mate for life and are protective of their partners and offspring, endure immense cruelty in the down industry.”
Allen questions how Lululemon can use a material that’s “completely at odds” with its core values.
PETA said the renewed campaign against Lululemon aligns with a PETA Asia down industry exposé that allegedly shows workers at Vietnam duck slaughterhouses stabbing birds in the neck and cutting off their feet while the animals are still conscious. Workers at a goose farm in Russia were found beheading conscious geese with a dull axe. And feathers from these facilities were allegedly later sold under the RDS.
A cursory site search reveals that about 20 of the products Lululemon sells are made with goose down feathers, including the “Down for It All” and “Pack it Down” vests, the “Wunder Puff” jacket, and “Navigation Stretch” down hoodie. In its 2020 impact agenda report, Lululemon said that since 2016, 100 percent of its down has been fully traceable and certified to meet the RDS. The report also shows that the company has invested in sustainable material as a founding member of the Mylo Consortium, unveiling a yoga made entirely of Mylo in 2021.
PETA first bought stock in Lululemon in 2013, Sadashige said, and has maintained an “action alert” against the retailer since 2015.
“PETA is not going to stop until Lululemon drops down and replaces it with a vastly superior, vegan alternative,” Sadashige said. “Shareholder questions are really just one part of a multi-faceted campaign to urge a company, like Lululemon, to do the right thing.”
Lululemon isn’t the first brand to come under PETA’s attack. In May, the animal-rights group demanded that H&M stop selling products made with fur ahead of the Swedish fast-fashion retailer’s annual meeting.
So far this year PETA has petitioned dozens of brands and retailers to ditch down in light of its investigations, including Lands’ End, Eddie Bauer, Gap, Guess and more. So far, several have pledged to drop down from their product offerings, including SMCP, the Paris-based company that owns Sandro and Maje, and Ascena, which owns Ann Taylor and Loft.
“Lululemon is firmly committed to upholding strong animal welfare practices by working with our vendors to have full visibility into our down sources. One hundred percent of our down products are certified to the Responsible Down Standard (RDS), an industry best practice, providing traceability through the entire supply chain so that our down comes from ethically treated geese,” a spokesperson for Lululemon told Sourcing Journal. “In addition to working with a small number of down suppliers who share our values and uphold our Vendor Code of Ethics, we also engage with the Textile Exchange on maintaining and advancing best-in-class raw materials standards, including RDS, in collaboration with stakeholders.”
