SUPPORTING STATEMENT:

RH has identified responsible sourcing and vendor compliance as a key component of its ESG programs. Hence, it requires its vendors to conduct their sourcing “in compliance with local and internationally recognized laws with respect to animal welfare.” In addition, RH has pledged to “monitor certain animal and natural products such as those made with down feathers” in an effort to obtain down and feathers from “ethical and humane sources.” Nevertheless, RH provides no transparency regarding its monitoring process and, specifically, whether its monitoring has confirmed vendor compliance with animal welfare laws or what is done when a vendor is found engaging in practices that are noncompliant.

In the past year, PETA entities have released exposés of facilities in Russia, Vietnam, and Poland, three of the world's largest down exporters. These investigations confirm that atrocious cruelty, gross lapses in oversight, and multiple violations of industry standards and both local and international laws are rampant in the down industry.

On so-called “responsibly certified” farms, sick and injured ducks languished in crowded and filthy lots. Shrieking and terrified geese were slaughtered on site by workers who stretched the birds’ necks out across a stump, then repeatedly hacked at them-as many as seven times before decapitation was complete-with a dull axe.

Inadequate stunning at multiple slaughterhouses caused immense and prolonged suffering to ducks who were left hanging upside down from leg shackles, some flapping wildly as they slowly bled to death after being slashed or stabbed in the neck.

No attempt was made to stun birds killed in homes that doubled as slaughterhouses, where a worker pierced ducks’ necks with a knife and cut off their legs as they continued to struggle.