Liz Claiborne Inc (LCI), whose brands include Mexx, Juicy Couture, Lucky Brand Jeans and Kate Spade as well as several cosmetic brands, has reportedly sent a letter to US-based animal rights group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) regarding what it terms the fashion house's "progress moving away from Australian wool".
The group joins others including Marks & Spencer, Abercrombie & Fitch and H&M, in banning wool source sourced from mulesed Australian sheep.
Both News Limited's The Daily Telegraph and Fairfax's The Melbourne Age have today (December 17) run exerts from the letter sent by Liz Claiborne's vice president of corporate communications to the group leading the anti-mulesing campaign which states the company is opposed to what it said was the "mulesing mutilations" performed by Australian woolgrowers.
"As a result [Liz Claiborne] has moved most of our merino wool purchases to non-Australian sources. LCI is committed to completely eliminating Australian merino wool from our supply chain and hope to be free of Australian wool very soon," the letter noted.
Just last month Wal Merriman, the new chairman of wool promotion group Australian Wool Innovation (AWI), reaffirmed the group's commitment to ending the practice that seems skin sliced from a sheep's backside to protect it from maggot infestation.
Merriman said the group would continue the necessary research to find alternatives by the deadline but it was a complex procedure.
"While it's my genuine hope that this can be achieved by the designed phase out date [2010], it's also my hope that animal activities realise that the Australian industry is genuinely seeking viable alternatives."