U.K. Judge Says Antifur Lobby Can Protest Outside Canada Goose Store
PETA POWER: Attention all Regent Street shoppers: Get out your earmuffs, as PETA plans to protest loudly outside the new Canada Goose flagship in London.
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals said Sunday that a U.K. High Court judge quadrupled the number of protesters allowed within the outer exclusion zone detailed in an injunction obtained by Canada Goose when it opened the store last month.
The judge also ruled that activists should be permitted to use “loud hailers” between 2 and 8 p.m. The new provisions are effective beginning Tuesday, PETA said.
The High Court ruled that the injunction was obtained by Canada Goose without notice, and unreasonably restricted people’s right to freedom of assembly and expression.
PETA said its lawyer Andrew Locke had argued the injunction severely restricted activists’ ability to inform British shoppers, “95 percent of whom oppose the use of fur, about the company’s continued sale of fur from coyotes,” which PETA argues are treated with cruelty.
A Canada Goose spokesperson could not immediately be reached for comment Sunday.
The Regent Street victory for PETA comes just days after Michael Kors said it would stop using fur as of December 2018. It said the ban would also apply to Jimmy Choo, which Michael Kors Holdings Ltd. acquired earlier this year.
Kors chief executive officer John Idol said Friday that the decision “marks a new chapter as our company continues to evolve its use of innovative materials.”
The decision comes in the wake of Gucci choosing to quit using fur in its collections, which ceo Marco Bizzarri revealed in London in October.
During the spring ready-to-wear shows in London in September, antifur protesters armed with megaphones gathered outside shows including Burberry, Versus Versace and Gareth Pugh.
Organized by the activist group Surge, the protesters gathered en masse outside shows, wearing eerie skeleton costumes and screaming “Blood on your hands” or “Shame on you” at showgoers (who were not wearing fur). The protests cast a shadow over the catwalks, and left guests rattled as they took their seats.
The group’s ultimate goal is to persuade the British Fashion Council to ban fur from the London catwalks, although that’s unlikely to happen.
“The British Fashion Council does not dictate what designers can or cannot design and has no control over their creative process. We encourage designers to ensure that if they choose to work with fur, they work with reputable organizations that supply ethically sourced fur,” a BFC spokesperson said in September.
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