Ralph Lauren joins list of fashion brands banning mohair

Ralph Lauren is the latest fashion company pledging to stop using mohair in its future collections. All of the group’s brands, including Ralph Lauren Home, Polo Ralph Lauren, Chaps, Club Monaco and American Living, will no longer feature the controversial material. The information was shared with journalists in a statement issued by animal rights organization PETA.

Since May, several companies, including H&M, Topshop, Gap and Inditex, have banned or pledged to ban mohair from their collections, after PETA published a video depicting angora goats being abused in South African farms. South Africa is the world’s biggest mohair exporter.

Mohair South Africa (MSA), the organization that represents the South African mohair industry, claims to have conducted an investigation on PETA’s claims, and found that the animal abuse seen on the video is the fault of a single independent shearing contractor. PETA denies MSA’s claims, saying that its investigation revealed bad practices to be widespread. MSA’s defense hasn’t stopped the stream of brands deciding to no longer use mohair. The latest brand to do so before Ralph Lauren was Diane von Furstenberg.