Vienna, 05 November 2025 – With the approaching festive season and yearly Black Friday promotions, global animal welfare organisation FOUR PAWS updates its annual Wear it Kind Brand Directory – empowering fashion shoppers to make compassionate gifting choices. With 60 new rated companies, such as Diesel, Fendi, J Crew and Dior, now over 300 fashion brands are listed in the directory. Their ranking is based on their commitment to adhering to certifications, replacing the usage of wool and down, banning fur, and reducing the overall reliance on animal-derived materials (ADMs). Last year’s YouGov survey revealed that eight out of ten (81%) surveyed adults across twelve markets globally agree that fashion companies should reduce the use of ADMs and invest in animal friendly alternatives such as recycled and plant-based materials. The ever-growing Brand Directory continues to be a key touchpoint for fashion lovers who want to gift kindly without cruelty.

Kindness in fashion: Spotlight on leaders and laggards

The Wear it Kind Brand Directory reveals that a growing number of fashion brands are taking meaningful steps to improve animal welfare, with leading companies including Ecoalf (ES), Kings of Indigo (NL) and Sealand Gear (ZA). The most improved companies compared to last year are H&M (SE) and Zadig & Voltaire (FR), recognized for achieving the highest positive actions in eliminating major animal welfare issues, live lamb cutting (LLC) and live plucking in the wool and down categories. At the other end of the spectrum, luxury giants Dior (FR), Fendi (IT) and Louis Vuitton (FR) continue to use fur and have taken no steps to phase it out. This highlights the luxury segment as the worst performing overall, with the highest proportion of brands failing to take action – particularly in the fur and down categories.

“FOUR PAWS is committed to ensuring that animals are not forgotten in the conversation around ethics in fashion. The Wear It Kind Brand Directory empowers shoppers to make compassionate choices with just a few clicks, taking meaningful steps for millions of animals impacted by the global fashion industry,” says Rustam.

Focus on wool 

The Brand Directory has revealed that 94% of companies rated have taken some degree of action to address live lamb cutting – a significant milestone, considering that wool is the most widely used animal-derived fibre in the global fashion industry. The impact of this shift cannot be overstated. Meanwhile, FOUR PAWS has recently started to mobilise against one of the most prominent laggards: Michael Kors. The U.S. fashion label offers no transparency regarding its wool sourcing and has made no commitment to LLC-free certifications. As a result, Michael Kors makes up as one of the ten worst brands rated in the ranking, underscoring the urgent need for greater accountability in the luxury fashion sector.

Background  

The ranking now includes brands that are free from live lamb cutting, live plucking and fur and instead use animal friendly materials and invites users to compare their favourite sports, outdoor, luxury brands and more.

Live lamb cutting is a result of poor breeding practices that have left Merino sheep in Australia highly vulnerable to a condition called flystrike. Despite viable alternatives, an estimated ten million lambs per year as young as two weeks are torn from their mothers and restrained in metal cradles, unable to escape what comes next. Using sharp shears, similar to garden shears, a palm-sized section of skin from around the lamb’s tail and genitals is cut off — all without adequate pain relief. Severe pain lasts for days, the wounds take weeks to heal, the scars remain a lifetime.

Down in puffer jackets, outdoor clothing or blankets and similar products often come from geese and ducks from intensive livestock farming. Many animals suffer from cruel live plucking. Live plucking is when down is brutally torn out of geese without any pain relief, often causing injuries and fractures and sometimes even death. This can be repeated every five to six weeks and since down grows back finer each time there is an incentive for growers to do so. Birds kept on parent farms for reproduction purposes are at an especially high risk of suffering this practice. Unfortunately, FOUR PAWS is not confident that current certifications can sufficiently mitigate this risk due to inherent challenges of the supply chains.