INTERNATIONAL: Perry Ellis International has joined the growing list of businesses boycotting Australian wool.
One of the largest retailers of men's suits and sportswear in the world - with $US 830 million ($A 887 million) in annual revenue and clothes sold in Wal-Mart, Sears and JC Penney stores in the US - the Miami-based company confirmed it had taken a decision to direct vendors away from wool sourced from suppliers that used mulesing.
The move follows a five year anti-mulesing campaign by animal rights group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) which says mulesing, where skin is removed from a sheep's rear end to protect it from fly strike, is cruel.
PETA claimed "dozens" more global companies would soon call for Australian farmers to switch to alternatives to traditional mulesing and clip-mulesing. The latter - a new technique developed as a more acceptable alternative to traditional mulesing – has also been rejected by animal rights groups.
Perry Ellis - which boasts Australian professional golfer Aaron Baddeley as the face of one of its clothing lines - has banned wool from sheep that have been clip-mulesed.
In recent weeks European retailer Hugo Boss announced it had joined the ban, while other international retailers and brands including Abercrombie & Fitch, American Eagle Outfitters, Victoria's Secret, Timberland and H&M had adopted anti-mulesing positions.