15 October 2025 – Global animal welfare organisation FOUR PAWS has investigated the efforts of over 100 fashion brands in eleven countries on animal welfare and wool labelling for consumers.

The itchy truth: 67% of brands fail to clearly disclose how they address live lamb cutting (also known as mulesing) – a brutal mutilation practice affecting ten million lambs annually in Australia – in their sourcing policies, product labelling, or both, leaving the public in the dark about animal welfare standards.

With zero points, luxury-brand Michael Kors hits the bottom of the listed fashion brands. The U.S. fashion label was unresponsiveness to FOUR PAWS’ outreach, presents no transparency regarding wool sourcing, and has made no commitment to live lamb cut-free certifications.

Of the 100+ brands included in the global investigation, 26 brands (25%) undertook positive concrete actions after they were contacted by FOUR PAWS, eight brands including H&M, Jack Wolfskin and Marc O’Polo have strengthened their wool policies – by stating their exclusive use of certified live lamb cut-free wool.

In Australia, this included:

• Camilla & Marc with the most improvement. The label updated their website with a strong commitment to live lamb cut-free wool and have partially improved their online product information for consumers. The label also committed to adding more product-level details online and in-store soon.
• AJE improved all wool online product details. 
• Gorman holds the highest score among the reviewed Australian brands and is therefore leading on transparency. The label also signed the FOUR PAWS’ open letter calling for industry-wide action to end live lamb cutting in Australia by 2030.
• SABA and Blue Illusion are currently the lowest-scoring Australian brands in the review.

Wool is by far the most commonly used animal fibre in global fashion, yet more than half of the wool used for apparel involves the cruel and outdated practice of live lamb cutting. It is a global issue with one country at the centre: Australia – the world’s largest wool exporter and the only nation where live lamb cutting is still practiced.

Latest wool buying trends

In recent months, demand for live lamb cut-free wool has surged to unprecedented levels. At the Nanjing Wool Market Conference in China this September—echoing similar calls made at the International Wool Textile Congress in France earlier in July—Australian exporters, growers, and brokers received a clear message to increase production of certified live lamb cut-free wool. 

Positively, also last month saw a unified stance from key industry bodies: the Australian Council of Wool Exporters and Processors (ACWEP), the National Council of Wool Selling Brokers of Australia (NCWSBA), and Wool Producers Australia (WPA) jointly called for a nationally coordinated strategy to address live lamb cutting. While this marks a pivotal moment, no concrete steps have yet been outlined, and clear leadership remains absent. Australian Wool Innovation, a key industry player, continues to cause a lack of confidence in viable alternatives. 

FOUR PAWS emphasises the urgent need for fashion brands to take responsibility for the welfare of animals within their supply chains, and for the Australian wool sector to align with evolving market expectations, as well as to set a concrete action plan.

About the Transparency Report

For this report, FOUR PAWS carried out in-store investigations of 102 fashion brands across Australia, Austria, Bulgaria, France, Germany, New Zealand, South Africa, Switzerland, the Netherlands, the UK and the US, as well as desktop research to:

• Evaluate their policy on excluding live lamb cut wool
• Build a stronger understanding of brand behaviour regarding live lamb cutting disclosure
• Determine whether brands are helping consumers avoid wool from sheep subjected to live lamb cutting

This report focuses specifically on live lamb cutting and does not assess broader animal welfare practices. FOUR PAWS reviewed brands’ wool sourcing policies, online product descriptions and in-store on-product labelling to determine levels of transparency and action on this issue.

About Live Lamb Cutting

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, lambs 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.