Feathers in Fashion
From the Met Gala to fast fashion, ostrich feathers are everywhere. Feathers are found in luxury runway collections, high-end brands, and fast fashion retailers.
Take Action for Ostriches as Feathers Become Fashion's New Fur.
From feathers to leather to fur, millions of animals are farmed, hunted, and killed every year for the fashion industry. Public attitude about killing wild animals for clothing is shifting. A growing number of fashion weeks, brands, and retailers have banned the use of fur and wild animal skins out of compassion for the animals who endure immense pain and torment. Unfortunately, the use of feathers remains widespread.
Most feathers used in fashion come from ostriches—social birds who form deep bonds with their herd mates and care for their babies.
A groundbreaking investigation by World Animal Protection exposes the severe cruelty endured by ostriches on farms in South Africa, including rarely-seen footage of live ostriches having their feathers ripped out with pliers to supply the global fashion industry.
Read Blood Feathers: An Investigation into the Ostrich Feather Industry
Nothing “Natural” About Feather Collection
The fashion industry claims that ostrich feathers are collected through a “natural molting process.” In reality, terrified birds are cornered, cut, and their feathers ripped out.
Ostriches Suffer on Mega Farms
Birds suffer from birth to death. Ostriches are wild animals being packed into massive farms. Our investigation documented injured and wounded ostriches and birds unable to stand.
By the Numbers
South Africa produces 75% of the world’s ostrich products (including feathers, meat, and skin). The vast majority of ostrich feather products surveyed across Europe, the US, China, and Australia traced back to South Africa.
In the wild, ostriches live 30 to 40 years, but in the feather trade, they’re killed in a fraction of that. Ostriches bred for “lower-quality” feathers are plucked a single time and killed when they’re just babies, at 10 to 14 months old.
In one year, 150,000 ostriches were killed in South Africa, and 330,693 pounds of ostrich feathers were exported.
Push the Fashion Industry to Reject Cruelty
Several retailers have banned ostrich feathers, and Melbourne Fashion Week adopted the first full wildlife-friendly policy in 2024, banning all wild animal products, including feathers. But too many retailers continue to sell suffering. Despite our repeated outreach, many retailers, including Revolve, Nordstrom, Saks Fifth Avenue, Net-a-Porter, and Neiman Marcus, continue to sell feathers with no policy to protect wild animals.
Help protect ostriches by telling Nordstrom to adopt a wildlife-friendly policy and stop selling feathers.