Executives at H&M will meet with animal rights group PETA following a wild fracas at New York Fashion Week over the weekend that included a top executive at the Swedish fashion giant’s upscale COS label, The Post has learned.
During the bizarre incident, COS managing director Daniel Hermann helped to restrain a PETA protester as Steven Kolb, chief executive of the Council of Fashion Designers of America, yanked her off of the runway in a chaotic scene on Sunday that was caught on video.
Hermann, whose label was staging a runway show inside the WSA Building in Manhattan’s Financial District, assisted Kolb by grabbing the protester’s arm as Kolb pulled her down onto the floor, according to video footage shared exclusively with The Post.
Hermann can be seen keeping his hand on the protester’s arm for a few moments as Kolb secured the protester between his legs.
As the viral scuffle unfolded, runway models continued to saunter past, decked out in COS’s upcoming autumn/winter collection.
Kolb then covered with protester’s mouth with his hand to stifle her shouting about the wool industry’s allegedly cruel treatment of sheep during the shearing process.
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals sent a letter to Hermann on Monday asking for a meeting. Filing charges with law enforcement over the Sunday incident is a consideration, “but the main goal for us is to meet with Kolb and H&M to show them our investigations into the cruel wool industry and we are looking forward to doing just that,” PETA spokesperson Moira Colley said.
COS said in a statement to The Post, “the incident at the show should have been prevented from escalating and that is why we are reviewing what happened with the teams involved. We are deeply sorry for what our guests, participants, and viewers of the show experienced.”
The fashion label added in a statement, “H&M Group has had an ongoing dialogue with PETA over many years, and remain open to continuing that conversation and have therefore accepted the meeting invitation with H&M Group representatives. We acknowledge the concerns PETA continues to raise regarding wool and animal welfare and welcome the opportunity to discuss this directly.”
Kolb apologized for his behavior and announced a voluntary leave of absence from the CFDA on Monday.
In a statement, Kolb said he is “deeply sorry” and that he accepted an invitation from PETA “to discuss their concerns,” adding that he hoped to “apologize in person to the two individuals who did not deserve that treatment.”
Colley said that PETA’s protestors “always drop to the ground, never throw punches so to be met with force like that was shocking to us.”
“COS claims that its collections are created with a mindful approach, a message that is difficult to reconcile with the images and video that emerged from the event,” according to the PETA letter from Jacqui Sadashige, manager of corporate responsibility.
“As peaceful protestors attempted to draw attention to the suffering of sheep in the wool industry, the response was to physically suppress the criticism rather than address the cruelty that prompted it.”
Still, PETA is known for aggressive tactics, including storming shareholder meetings and protesting outside of Canada Goose stores holding gruesome images of bloodied coyotes whose fur is used as trim on the company’s pricey parkas.
PETA declined to disclose how it infiltrated the COS show, which is by invitation only.
“We had six people at the show,” Colley said. “We have contacts in all corners of the fashion world, insiders who are upset about this cruelty too.”
Its undercover investigations of the wool industry included infiltrating 150 farms on four continents, where it documented “workers punching, kicking, beating, and stomping on sheep, dragging them by their limbs, and leaving them with bloody shearing wounds,” according to the letter sent to Hermann.
H&M insists that its wool is ethically sourced.
“The wool we source for our brands, is either certified by Textile Exchange’s Responsible Wool Standard or comes from certified recycled sources,” the company said in a statement. “H&M Group has been in close contact with Textile Exchange and shares concerns about PETA’s allegations.”
One of PETA’s investigations included a sheep farm in New Zealand owned by former disgraced “Today Show” anchor Matt Lauer.
The 2024 investigation claimed that “Matt Lauer’s New Zealand getaway is hell for scared sheep who are flung about, pinned down and cut up,” PETA president Ingrid Newkirk told The Post at the time.
A spokesperson for Lauer said he had “absolutely no knowledge of any alleged problems at his property” until The Post reached out for comment.