New York Fashion Week: PETA Protester Assaulted, Senate Introduces Legislation To Revolutionize Work In Fashion Industry

New York Fashion Week: PETA Protester Assaulted, Senate Introduces Legislation To Revolutionize Work In Fashion Industry

Editor’s note: See below for the disruption of NYFW’s fashion events, calling out the abuse and inhumane treatment of sheep used in fashion.  Also, see the announcement from Senator Gillibrand to bring accountability and transparency for workers in the fashion industry.  See also a video of the PETA protest and assault by audience members.  

Breaking: CFDA President Violently Pins Down PETA Members Protesting Cruelty to Sheep on COS NYFW Runway 

New York — Moments ago, two PETA supporters were assaulted by the CEO of the Council of Fashion Designers of America, Steven Kelb, during a protest over wool on the COS runway. Kelb violently grabbed one protester, held her to the floor, wrapped a leg around her, and covered her mouth and nose with his hands as she shouted, “Sheep bloodied and beaten for wool.” Kelb also shoved and grabbed a second PETA member who was filming the catwalk takeover and covered his face with his hand. The duo was joined by a third member protesting the company’s implication in a recent PETA Asia investigation. They are filing a police report and plan to pursue criminal charges.

The protest follows new footage from a farm certified by NATIVA, a wool certification used in the supply chain of COS’s parent company, H&M Group. The investigation reveals workers kicking and stomping on terrified sheep and leaving them with gaping wounds after crude shearing. Photos and video of the runway takeover are available here.

“Today’s actions show how top people in fashion use violence to silence people who expose how sheep are beaten, bloodied, and violently killed for scarves and sweaters,” says PETA Founder Ingrid Newkirk. “PETA is calling on H&M and COS to ban wool from its collections and is urging everyone to shop elsewhere until they do.”

Sheep are thinking, feeling beings with unique personalities who grow depressed if isolated from their flock. But PETA Asia’s investigation documented workers kicking sheep in the head and body, hitting them in the face with shearing equipment, beating them with a piece of wood, and picking up and dragging lambs by their front legs. One worker dropped his knee onto a ram’s neck, causing the animal’s head to hit the floor. Others sheared the sheep quickly and carelessly, slicing their skin and leaving them bloody.

PETA entities have now released 17 exposés of over 150 wool industry operations in seven countries on four continents, revealing extreme cruelty and violence even at operations that market themselves as “ethical” or “responsible”—and showing why such labels serve only to mislead customers.

Throughout September, PETA’s sky-high message at 7^th Avenue and 43^rd Street in Times Square—just feet away from H&M’s Times Square location—will remind shoppers that sheep pay the ultimate price for wool garments.

PETA encourages everyone to urge H&M to stop selling wool and to commit to making clothing exclusively from animal-free fabrics such as Tencel, cotton, or bamboo.

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Times Square Bilboard. Image Credit – PETA

AMID NEW YORK FASHION WEEK, GILLIBRAND, NADLER REINTRODUCE FABRIC ACT TO BRING ACCOUNTABILITY AND TRANSPARENCY TO THE FASHION INDUSTRY

New York, NY – Today, U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) and Congressman Jerry Nadler (D-NY-12) announced the reintroduction of their Fashioning Accountability and Building Real Institutional Change (FABRIC) Act. In New York State, there are approximately 130,000 people employed by the fashion industry, including thousands working in apparel manufacturing. Garment workers are a cornerstone of the American economy, and for far too long, they have faced unsafe working conditions, wage theft, and piecework pay, which often prioritizes fast fashion over the safety of workers. Gillibrand and Nadler’s FABRIC Act would protect over 75,000 American garment workers and help revitalize the garment manufacturing industry in the United States by improving working conditions and reforming the piece-rate pay scale.

“Garment workers are the backbone of a multibillion-dollar industry, yet for far too long, their labor has been undervalued and exploited,” said Senator Gillibrand. “We cannot champion American innovation while turning a blind eye to abusive labor practices in our own backyard. It’s time to take bold action at the federal level to change the fabric of the American garment industry. The United States was once home to a booming apparel manufacturing industry, and it’s time to reexamine how this industry has evolved over the past 50 years and change how we treat our workers. With the FABRIC Act, we can curb wage theft, protect our workers, and revitalize domestic manufacturing so that ‘Made in America’ also means ethically made.”

“America’s garment workers have been undervalued and subjected to unfair labor practices for far too long, due to weak regulations across the fashion industry and the rise of fast fashion. With more than 100,000 New Yorkers contributing their labor to a billion-dollar garment industry, it is time to protect these workers and others across our nation and make historic investments in domestic manufacturing by passing the FABRIC Act,” said Congressman Jerrold Nadler. “I’m proud to work with Senator Gillibrand to protect workers’ rights, bring jobs back from overseas, and revitalize the American fashion industry.”

The FABRIC Act proposes to address these issues by:

1. Restructuring pay rates for garment workers and providing minimum wage as a floor with productivity incentives on top.
2. Establishing new liability measures that compel major retailers to become allies in combating workplace violations.
3. Introducing recordkeeping and transparency measures, including requiring garment manufacturers and contractors operating in the U.S. to register with the Department of Labor.
4. Incentivizing reshoring by creating a domestic garment manufacturing grant program aimed at revitalizing the industry.

In addition to Gillibrand and Nadler, the bill is cosponsored by Senators Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), and Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), as well as Reps. Deborah Ross (D-NC), Don Beyer (D-VA), Maxwell Frost (D-FL), Robert Garcia (D-CA), Dan Goldman (D-NY), Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC), Stephen Lynch (D-MA), and Rashida Tlaib (D-MI). The bill is also endorsed by AFL-CIO, UNITE HERE, Workers United, and RWDSU.

The full text of the FABRIC Act can be found here.