The massive British retailer Marks and Spencer (M&S) has decided to lift its restriction on using alpaca yarn in clothing, a move that is expected to face backlash from animal rights campaigners. The move comes after the announcement of a supply-chain-wide, unified pilot of Textile Exchange’s Responsible Alpaca Standard (RAS), currently a voluntary scheme for the certification and assessment of elements regarding animal welfare, land management and social requirements.
M&S originally announced in 2020 that it would no longer be utilising alpaca wool in its clothes after pressure from animal welfare organisation Peta. At the time, a Peta-led investigation led to animal welfare concerns regarding the manner of farming to produce alpaca wool, which left deep shearing wounds on the animals.
The retailer stated that the pilot of a unified RAS in supply chains, expected in the first half of this year, had given them the confidence to recommence the sourcing of the alpaca fibre, according to a reports.
An M&S statement read: “We value the quality of this fibre as well as the traditional know-how linked to its production,” adding that the new certification “will be the minimum standard for all alpaca fibre in M&S products”. M&S recently claimed to have made considerable progress across key sustainability and animal welfare strategies.
Director of corporate affairs at M&S, Victoria McKenzie–Gould said: “We’ve made really good progress over the last 12 months – from maintaining our leading animal welfare standards to nearly doubling our target to reduce and remove plastic – but of course, the work is never done.”
