OUR APPROACH TO ANIMAL WELFARE
28 September 2020
UGG is committed to empowering you with information on the materials that go into our products, particularly animal-based materials, and drive confidence in our commitment to ensuring a responsible supply chain.
“More and more consumers are seeking out sustainable products that are good for animals and the environment. We applaud UGG for its support in seeing an end to mulesing in the wool industry and for its dedication to developing innovative materials that don’t come from animals at all.”
OUR REQUIREMENTS
UGG only purchases animal materials from suppliers that comply with our strict Ethical Sourcing and Animal Welfare policy, which you can find here. 100% of our suppliers must certify their compliance with our Animal Welfare Policy on an annual basis.
For us, it is essential that animal-based materials we use are sourced from animals that have been raised humanely using sound animal husbandry. This means our suppliers are required to respect and uphold the Five Freedoms, an internationally accepted welfare standard for livestock. This assures that animals are free from hunger and thirst, discomfort, pain, fear and distress, and have the freedom to express normal behaviour. We never accept hides that have come from animals who have been solely raised for their hide, or from animals who have been raised or slaughtered inhumanely. We also do not support the practice of mulesing or the transporting of live animals overseas.
We do not source animal hides outside of our permitted animal hides list in order to ensure our animal-based hides are food industry by-products, are never derived from endangered or vulnerable species, and are never sourced using inhumane methods. We never use exotic skins, domestic or feral cats and dogs, angora rabbit, or rabbit hair. We will also not use any Alpaca as of Fall 2023 season.
We do not believe in the exploitation or killing of animals solely for the purpose of their fur. This means that we do not use pelts or fur from wild or domestic animals that were killed solely for their hide (for example mink), and instead only use the by-products hides from animals that were raised for the food industry.
As part of our wider sustainability program, we also research and develop viable alternatives that answer the performance needs of our products and the demands of consumers to deliver material innovation and choice.
Currently, the animal-based materials we most commonly use are sheepskin, wool, cashmere, leather, suede, and down. You can read about the strict standards we have for all of these materials here.
