Ok that’s a terrible pun, but it had to be done. Protestors greeted attendees of the Australian Wool Innovation’s (AWI) gala award ceremony in Paris last night, with shocking images of what happens to lambs in the Australian wool industry. Merino wool comes at a heinous price for the welfare of lambs, who have their backsides hacked about in order to prevent flystrike (mulesing). C’mon guys, it’s time to fall into place and put these mutilation practices to bed. Gardening shears and rotting flesh has never been in fashion, so why should cruelly produced wool clothing be? Adidas, HUGO BOSS and H&M have got the right idea - it’s time everyone else followed suit.

You may remember me telling you about the new t-shirt that Jodie Marsh designed, with all profits going to PETA (read more about it here). Well my lovely readers, I have some good news – you can nab one for free!

All you need to do, is leave a comment here on what you most like about Jodie – be it her compassion for animals, her stint in Celebrity Big Brother or her, erm, other assets. But people please, let’s keep it clean. The t-shirts are from Kill The Scene Clothing and normally cost £14, so a right bargain to be had here.

We have 3 to give away, and the closing date is 1 August 2008, when I’ll pick the winners, contacting them the next day for their address. Sound good? Great, then let’s go! Oh, and make sure you read our terms and conditions and privacy policy before entering.

Good luck!

Check us out on Free Stuff

Sporting a gorgeous new haircut, Jodie Marsh looks amazing in these pics that landed in my inbox today. And oh my gosh, how cute is her dog, Paddy? But what I’m more excited about is the t-shirt that the model and TV personality is wearing (c’mon lads, at least try to agree). She’s posed for an ‘All Animals Have the Same Parts’ ad for PETA before, and now she’s raising cash for us by designing and modelling this striking t-shirt design, which boldly speaks out against animal testing. They’re £14 and can be picked up from Kill The Scene Clothing.

Jodie says, “I absolutely love their designs. Day glo colours are the way forward for summer and I’ll be wearing my ’stop animal testing’ t-shirt with pride all summer. It’s high fashion supporting a good cause! I’ve always loved making a statement with my clothes and with KTS I am sending out a really important message as well as looking good. What better way to promote and support my favourite thing than to wear it on my body?”

Ahh, bless her. Thanks Jodie!

The mock-croc look is in! Now while some celebs, (i.e. Ashley Olsen) not naming any names, will insist on the real deal and support an industry that costs the lives of magnificent crocodiles and alligators, we – along with fashion writers, shops and celebrities everywhere – know that fake is always better. Better for the sake of the animals and the mock-look is totally convincing. Alligators can naturally live up to 60 years, yet on farms they’re usually butchered before their fourth birthday, often beaten with hammers and sometimes take up to two hours to die. Check out these new ads aimed at the exotic-skins trade, pretty nifty huh? But what I want to know is, which do you prefer?

You may remember me subtly sulking about Americans getting the chance to enter a US-specific Stella McCartney competition. Well I have some great news – now it’s our turn!

Stella McCartney has teamed up with one of the UK’s biggest glossy magazines, Marie Claire, to give away a gorgeous set of Lesportsac travel bags worth over £700. What I’m equally loving is that 45p from each call to the competition line is being donated to PETA. The sun’s out this week, so go and grab yourself the June issue (which just so happens to be an eco-chic special – double score!), head down to the park or beach for a read, and get dialling…

I’m afraid I’m going to start getting all gushy on you now, and a little bit girlie, but I’ll try and keep it to a minimum for all of our sakes. Vegan online boutique, Bourgeois Boheme is opening a new store, yep you heard me right, a REAL store. It’s going to be in Richmond, London and I have the pleasure of attending the opening on 17th May. I do get around, don’t I? This is great news for men and women alike, and not even just of the vegan variety either.

I have been impressed with Bourgeois Boheme since they first popped onto the ethical fashion scene in 2005, bringing us fashionable shoes, bags and accessories that haven’t harmed our non-human friends. By developing their brand and becoming London’s first vegan fashion store, it proves just how popular animal-friendly fashion is and slaps furry companies such as Burberry in the proverbial face. As you can see from the photo here, they do a pretty good mock-snakeskin too. I bought a bag from BB last year (that they don’t do anymore – ha!) and it never ceases to draw in fans and green-eyed onlookers.

As you may remember, I’ve been keeping you updated on the protests taking place across Scandinavia against mulesing. Here are the last of the pictures, which are from Denmark and Norway. Thanks to all the activists who took part over the past few weeks, you rock! Oh and I’m loving the combine-harvester look below…

Following hot on the heels of other major chain stores like H&M and New Look, £1 billion store Matalan has implemented a policy against purchasing Australian wool. David Mellett, a director within Matalan, told PETA:

“[We have] instructed our suppliers that they must not source Australian merino wool for any future orders … [and] we will now include this as part of our auditing process.”

What’s all the fuss about? In Australia, a cruel process called mulesing is used, which involves crude mutilation using shears to cut huge chunks of skin and flesh from lambs’ backsides – without any pain relief – in a misguided attempt to reduce maggot infestation, even though effective and humane prevention methods exist.

In another European demo, activists and this rather forlorn looking ‘sheep’, protested against the cruelty of mulesing in Helsinki, Finland. Keep up the pressure my continental friends!

I am one happy bunny. PETA US has been working with H&M - the giant clothes retailer that adorns many a high street here in the UK (1,500 stores worldwide!) - and following discussions with them about how lambs in the Australian wool industry are mutilated during the “mulesing” procedure, the company has made the ethical decision to try and source wool from outside Australia. H&M ensure that any wool it purchases from down under doesn’t come from producers that use mulesing. This decision puts H&M in the company of others like New Look, George, Abercrombie & Fitch, Timberland and leading fashion designer Marc Bouwer, who have all taken similar actions.

What is mulesing? Australian farmers breed sheep to grow extremely wrinkly skin (so they produce more wool), which can collect urine and moisture in the hot weather. Attracted to the moisture, flies lay eggs in the folds of skin, and the hatched maggots can eat the sheep alive. To prevent this, many Australian ranchers perform an operation where they force the sheep onto their backs, restrain their legs and, without painkillers, slice chunks of flesh from their backsides. This is done to encourage smooth, scarred skin that can’t harbour fly eggs, though flies are often attracted to the open wounds, making it ineffective as well as cruel.

In an email to PETA US, the head of environment and corporate social responsibility for H&M wrote: “Our new position is to start immediately to look for non-mulesed (wool) alternatives. We will look for other countries of origin than Australia, and we will investigate any certifications or other ways to prove that merino wool from Australia originates from farms that are not practicing mulesing.”

While PETA advocates an end to the use of sheep for their flesh and wool, and will continue to campaign for this, we also recognise that this announcement is a big step forward. Find out more about the PETA US campaign here.

Well done H&M! See the H&M website for more on their new stance.

H&M image: Curbed / Creative Commons