H&M executives met with animal rights reps last month in the wake of a bizarre incident in which high level fashion executives – including an H&M honcho – apparently roughed up an activist at a New York Fashion Week show, The Post has learned.
As a result of the fracas, the Swedish fashion giant agreed to a meeting with People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals to discuss the group’s investigation into the underbelly of the wool industry.
But the Sept. 25 Zoom call was a big disappointment, said Anne Brainard, PETA’s senior director of strategy.
“It felt like they were checking the box to meet with PETA,” she told The Post. “They made no commitments. They acknowledge the use of animals is unacceptable. But they don’t change.”
H&M and its upscale brand COS “is our most public target at the moment regarding wool,” Brainard added. “We are going to continue our work [disrupting] shareholder meetings and doing public demonstrations.”
Also on the Zoom call were Cecilia Stromblad Brannsten, head of resource use for H&M group, and Markus Ahlberg, head of sustainability engagement.
PETA and H&M have been tangling for more than a decade. The fast-fashion retailer previously agreed to stop using fur, exotic skins, angora and materials from endangered species as a result of PETA’s pressure campaigns, according to Brainard.
Last month, PETA activists disrupted a COS fashion show in Manhattan and one protestor was grabbed off of the runway and restrained by Steven Kolb, chief executive of the Council of Fashion Designers of America, video showed.
Kolb later apologized for covering the protester’s mouth with his hand to stifle her shouting about the wool industry’s allegedly cruel treatment of sheep during the shearing process.
In the wake of the incident, Kolb resigned from his 20-year post as the head of CFDA.
H&M said at the time: “When it comes to the incident at the fashion show, we respect everyone’s right to express their views and believe everyone should be treated with care and respect. Animal welfare is very important to us, and we agree with PETA that no animals should be harmed to make fashion.”
The company declined to comment on it’s discussion with PETA or whether it’s taking further action to address the incident at the fashion show.