PETA buys Frasers Group stake amid anti-fur protests

PETA US has become a shareholder in Frasers Group, the animal rights group has announced. 

The move is in response to House of Fraser reportedly reversing its pledge to not to sell any fur products. The animal rights activists said that by breaking its previous pledge, the retail group was “profiting from cruelty to animals”.

As a shareholder, a PETA representative will now be able to attend the Frasers Group annual general meeting later this year, where it can speak with fellow shareholders and “push to reinstate House of Fraser’s No-Fur Policy”.

The retail group had previously published a pledge in 2017 that said it would maintain a “strict no-fur policy”, but later investigations found that products advertised as fake fur contained genuine fur. Last November, the group came under fire again after restocking fur coats across its sites.  

PETA later held protests outside of House of Fraser’s Oxford Street site during Black Friday. A further 26,000 people have signed a PETA petition that “urges” House of Fraser to stop selling fur.

Its latest move also follows PETA’s recent exposé of the fur trade in Russia. Saga Furs, a supplier that was exposed by the group, is reportedly a fur supplier to House of Fraser.

Frasers Group, formerly known as Sports Direct International, acquired House of Fraser in a £90m deal in January 2019. The retail group later rebranded as Frasers Group as part of a “multi-channel elevation strategy” that aimed to provide “unrivalled multi-brand offering to customers across sport, lifestyle and fashion”. 

PETA Director Elisa Allen said: “House of Fraser’s fur ban reversal flies in the face of what today’s kind shoppers want.” 

“As a shareholder, PETA US will be able to push the department store to do what’s right for its own reputation and for animals by reinstating its policy against selling bits and pieces of their fur.”

Frasers Group has been contacted for comment.