Mulesing, removing flesh from their backsides

Korean fashion house, the Kukdong Corporation, has become the first Asian fashion house to join the boycott of Australian Wool. The boycott is in place because of a practise called ‘mulesing’ where flesh is removed from lambs backsides in an attempt to reduce the risk of a maggot infestation called ‘flystrike’. The lambs are held on their backs while the farmer cuts sections of their flesh away. There is no pain relief and there are more humane alternatives.

International fashion houses have been boycotting wool from Australia since mid 2008, including Abercrombie & Fitch, Timberland, H&M, American Eagle, Columbia Sportswear and Hugo Boss.

The Kukdong Corporation makes and distributes the Pierre Cardin, NafNaf, and Jack&Jill brands in Korea and manufactures apparel for NafNaf, Fox Racing and other famous names internationally. Chief executive, SK Byun, explains why they plan to remove all Australian wool from their supply chain:

Our customers demand ethically sourced material, and as a result the Kukdong Corporation is committed to eliminating Australian wool from our supply chain completely. We are looking into suppliers in other countries where mulesing does not happen, and we will look at Australian wool again once mulesing has stopped.

The campaign against the use of wool from mulesed sheep has been led by animal rights group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA).

Peta is also against the use of alternative methods of removing skin on lambs’ backsides, such as ‘clip mulesing,’ which will be used by some Australian sheep farmers on products marked as ‘nonmulesed.’

It argues humane prevention methods exist – such as breeding sheep who are not susceptible to flystrike – but are not widely used.