Boohoo changes its mind on wool just hours after ban

Company says that the wool it uses ']meets high levels of animal welfare'

(Reuters)

Fashion retailer Boohoo has said it will not be banning wool – just hours after it announced that it would be.

The company said that it "continues to assess all options as part of its ongoing commitment to a more sustainable future".

It added: "We are committed to ensuring the wool used in our supply chain comes from good husbandry and meets high levels of animal welfare. We will continue to use wool as a sustainable material."

However, hours before, it had promised that its brands – including Boohoo, Pretty Little Thing and Nasty Gal – would "no longer knowingly source any wool products".

It was praised for that decision by animal rights charity Peta, who referred to it as "business savvy".

The organisation's director of corporate projects, Yvonne Taylor, the clothing group's decision was "compassionate" and "business-savvy".

She added: "Kind shoppers agree that no jumper or scarf is worth kicking, punching, and killing gentle sheep on the shearing floor, and we're urging other retailers to follow Boohoo's forward-thinking example."

Peta had pointed to 11 videos that it said was proof of "systemic cruelty in the wool industry".

But the move was criticised by farmers, who described it as "absurd".

"Wool is one of the most sustainable fibres on Earth,” Phil Stocker, chief executive of the National Sheep Association, told The Times. “It would be absurd to replace wool, a natural material, with plastic fibres which do not degrade, are made from fossil fuel and may end up polluting the ocean.”