Investigation shows ZQ certified ‘ethical’ wool farm cruelty and abuse of sheep

In early January 2025, a new investigation from People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals uncovered the abuse of sheep on a farm certified by ZQ, which in turn meets Responsible Wool Standard (RWS) requirements.

New Zealand wool is often considered to be produced to a high standard and the country is the third largest producer of wool. The ZQ certification from The New Zealand Merino Company claims to produce ‘ethical’ and ‘sustainable’ wool with ‘regenerative’ practices.

Yet, it was on a ZQ certified wool farm where new footage reveals sheep being whipped, hit, tackled, smothered, thrown, gashed before stitched without pain relief, and shockingly, even laughed at, while one sheep bled from their face.

The ‘world’s leading ethical wool brand’ is an ethics-washing machine for an industry built on the commodification, exploitation and ultimate slaughter of sentient animals.

Due to the impact of ZQ’s ethics-washing, as well as similar misleading claims from the associated Responsible Wool Standard, brands including Allbirds, Fjällräven, Loro Piana, Helly Hansen and even Stella McCartney source this wool.

The Stella McCartney brand, which is vegetarian due to its promoted and applaudable opposition to animal killing and suffering, even states that sourcing ZQ Wool is ‘a commitment to animal welfare’.

PETA Asia-Pacific image above

Unfortunately, this new footage is yet another example of how untrue this is. With 150 global wool production facilities investigated by PETA, and several more by CFJ, this is an industry wide problem.

Sheep were hit with ski poles and against a hard wooden board while being sworn at. Prior to shearing sheep were packed so tightly together they struggled to breathe, one even dying as a result.

The modern wool industry is built upon a colonial and exploitative ideology which views individual animals as objects to use as mere objects towards profit. It is of no surprise that the power humans possess and force upon our fellow animals in this system routinely results in violence.

In fact, even when the ZQ certification is followed to the letter, violence persists.

The standard does not require pain relief for standard and legal practices like the cutting off of sheep’s tails and testicles, but only that wool producers engage in ‘a pathway for the application of pain relief for tail docking and castration over a period of time’.

Similarly, the Responsible Wool Standard does not require pain relief if ‘suitable pain relief’ is not available. This loophole is easily exploited and unacceptable.

In both certifications, sheep who are no longer considered profitable for wool production are slaughtered, their lives and autonomy totally discarded.

An image from our Global Fashion Summit exhibition, featuring rescued sheep at Tamerlaine Sanctuary and our founder, wearing BioFluff ‘shearling’ made from plants, alongside plant-based and recycled knitwear.

Collective Fashion Justice urges the fashion industry to acknowledge that the suffering associated with wool production can only ever be reduced, and never eliminated.

The commodification and slaughter of sentient beings is unacceptable in a total ethics fashion future, and as is the case with wool, is also linked to harmful methane emissions and biodiversity destruction.

Virgin wool sources must be shifted beyond rapidly, replaced with recycled, plant- and bio-based material sources free from animal and fossil fuel inputs alike.

CFJ offers its support to engage with any brands looking to make this change, and supports citizen consumers to call for such action.