H&M is the second largest retailer in Europe and has stores around the world, and now it no longer accepts wool from Australia. This came about after the Australian wool industry showed signs of hesitation on its plan to stop mulesing sheep by 2010. Though H&M admittedly uses only a “very small selection of merino wool“, the type of wool that comes from mulesed sheep, and an H&M spokesperson said the company wants “to take a stand to promote animal welfare.”

For those unfamiliar with mulesing, it’s named after John Mules - the first to “accidentally” develop the practice - and involves cutting off pieces of wrinkle skin from around the rear of a sheep to prevent flystrike. Flystrike leads to infection and eventually death, however mulesing is extremely painful and often done with little or no painkillers for the sheep. Enter PETA.

PETA heavily fought the practice, commonplace in Australia, and reached a tentative cease-fire with the nation’s wool industry (AWI) last summer (the Australian Wool Industry agreed to stop mulesing, and PETA had to agree to “conduct itself within the law”). It appears that the AWI is now reneging on its promise, and PETA is again up in arms.

Many retailers have already stopped importing wool from Australia because of the practice. Sweden-based H&M is the latest of them, saying, “H&M does not accept mulesing. The company has decided to direct its buying towards other countries of origin and other suppliers in Australia that can guarantee mulesing-free merino wool.”