Regarding the resignation of Paula Reed as fashion director for Harvey Nichols, please find below a short statement from PETA:
After receiving confirmation in a meeting with Joseph Wan that Reed was singlehandedly responsible for breaking Harvey Nichols’ strict decade-long policy against selling fur, PETA hopes her resignation will pave the way for the reinstatement of the department store’s previous, well-respected policy. PETA members and supporters sent more than 5,000 e-mails and thousands of Facebook messages and tweets in the past few days urging Reed to reconsider this disastrous decision, which supports an industry that condemns rabbits, foxes and other animals to a lifetime of suffering inside tiny, filthy cages. Gassing, beating and electrocuting animals and then ripping the skin off their backs, all for the sake of vanity, is utterly reprehensible and just as unacceptable now as it was 10 years ago. We ask Harvey Nichols to realign itself now with the ethical values of the British public – 95 per cent of whom would never wear real fur and who rightly regard the industry as one of the most violent, bloody and barbaric on the planet – and reinstate its ban on fur.