Patagonia Drops Wool Supplier Following PETA Report

Photo: @patagonia/Instagram

Patagonia has decided to drop one of its wool suppliers, Argentinian-based farm Ovis 21, following a graphic PETA report as well as the company’s subsequent independent investigation into the accusations.

Though the reports were published over a week ago (in which time Stella McCartney, who also sourced materials from the farm, declared that she would be immediately cutting ties), Patagonia replied that while they had taken the allegations into consideration, they would not make any concrete decisions pending an independent look at the practices — especially given their fundamental differences with the polarizing animal rights group. Yesterday, however, they amended their statement with the following:

Read more: Melissa McCarthy Slams Demeaning “Plus-Size” Description of Clothing Line

“We’ve spent the past several days looking deep into our wool supply chain, shocked by the disturbing footage of animal cruelty that came to light last week. In light of this, we’ve made a frank and open-eyed assessment of the Ovis program. Our conclusion: it is impossible to ensure immediate changes to objectionable practices on Ovis 21 ranches, and we have therefore made the decision that we will no longer buy wool from them. This is a difficult decision, but it’s the right thing to do.”

However, unlike McCartney’s proclamation to eventually remove real wool from her collections altogether, Patagonia noted that it will continue to use the material in its products given its “unique performance attributes.”