Because PETA entities have revealed that screaming sheep are left bloody for wool without fail and that boiling fragile silkworms in their cocoons for silk is the industry norm, PETA fired off a warning letter to retailer GreaterGood demanding that it stop misleading consumers by falsely advertising items made of these violently derived materials as “cruelty-free” and “humane”—giving the company until April 11 to comply.
A sheep in the wool industry. Credit: PETA
“Not only is GreaterGood selling items representing the pain, suffering, and death of vulnerable animals, it’s also misleading well-intentioned consumers into thinking things are all good,” says PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman. “PETA is calling on GreaterGood to remove these deceptive statements and stop humane-washing the sheep’s wool, alpaca wool, and silk industries’ inherent cruelty—and is urging everyone to buy only luxurious and animal-friendly vegan materials.”
PETA’s exposés of 117 wool-industry operations around the world have all revealed extreme cruelty, including workers kicking, punching, and slitting the throats of conscious, struggling sheep. A PETA investigation into the world’s largest privately owned alpaca farm uncovered workers hitting the animals, slamming them onto tables, and shearing them with such speed and carelessness that many were left with deep wounds, which workers sewed up with a needle and thread.
Silk is derived from the cocoons of larvae, so most of the insects raised by the industry don’t live past the pupal stage before they’re steamed or gassed alive by the billions—if not trillions—every year. GreaterGood also advertises cruelly produced “peace silk,” for which manufacturers allow cocoons to hatch and breed, causing the silkworm population to spike and hundreds of caterpillars per cocoon to die, often from starvation and dehydration.
Retailers Naadam and Quince both quickly removed similar false humane claims from their marketing materials after receiving cease and desist letters from PETA.
PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to wear”—points out that Every Animal Is Someone and offers free Empathy Kits for people who need a lesson in kindness. For more information, please visit PETA.org or follow the group on X, Facebook, or Instagram.
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