Shocking Footage Exposes the Cruelty Behind Fashion’s Ostrich Feathers
Tuesday, 22nd September 2026: A World Animal Protection investigation into feather farms and feather processing facilities in South Africa confirms ostriches are having their feathers pulled out with pliers to supply luxury fashion brands and fast fashion.
The investigation documented rare video evidence of this process. In this footage, a male ostrich is being cornered by workers before a bag is then placed over the bird’s head to placate him and his feathers are cut and pulled from his skin using pliers. This is done without any pain relief.
Today, the global animal welfare organisation, together with Collective Fashion Justice, released a new report, Blood Feathers, which spotlights the animal suffering on commercial ostrich feather farms supplying the fashion industry.
The investigation focuses on farms in South Africa where 75% of the world’s ostrich products are produced, including those made from feathers, meat and skin.
Key findings:
- Investigators captured rarely seen footage of feather cutting, where feathers are cut above the bloodline then later pulled from the skin with pliers.
- At one farm visited, ostriches were described as being live plucked every six months. Blood is often found in the shaft of these feathers when plucked, which led to the industry coining the term “blood feathers”.
- Farms and feather processing facilities in the region confirmed that they supply to YSL, Louis Vuitton, Dior and Chanel, as well as fast fashion giant Shein.
- Investigators saw birds injured, showing aggression and unable to stand. Some were wounded from pecking at each other's eyes and feathers.
World Animal Protection has submitted a complaint to the National Council of SPCAs in South Africa, outlining the animal welfare concerns uncovered. The complaint calls on the NSPCA to consider investigation under the Animals Protection Act.
Edith Kabesiime, Wildlife Campaign Manager at World Animal Protection said:
“Feathers are increasingly being treated as a fashionable alternative to fur, but changing the animal does not change the cruelty. Behind the glamour of feathered fashion, there is a deeply distressing reality for ostriches in which most fashion enthusiasts have no idea of what they endure to produce feathers for fashion. They are chased, restrained and bagged before their feathers are forcibly removed with pliers, often without any pain relief.
“Pulling feathers from a living bird with pliers is not natural, humane or acceptable. The fashion industry must look beyond the aesthetic appeal of feathers and confront the animal suffering hidden behind these materials.”
Emma Håkansson, Founding Director at Collective Fashion Justice said:
“It is utterly inconsistent for the fashion industry to have largely banned fur, only to shift to ostrich feathers which also come from a slaughtering industry full of suffering. Many brands, fashion councils and runways have banned ostrich skins, yet permit the feathers that come from the very same supply chain.
“With so many innovative fabric manipulation techniques and bio-materials available to create the same lightness, volume and movement consumers admire in feathers, there is no justification for this cruelty. These birds are exploited while the public is led to believe it’s done in a ’natural’ and ‘responsible’ way."
The natural moult myth sold to shoppers
In the 2024/25 season, 150,000 ostriches were slaughtered in South Africa for the feather, meat and skin trades. Furthermore, over 150 tonnes of ostrich feathers were exported from South Africa around the globe. The fashion industry often repeats the claim that feathers come from an ostrich’s natural moult, but this investigation found it is impossible to rely on natural moulting at the scale the industry demands.
Ostriches are social, emotionally aware animals. In the wild they can live 30 to 40 years but in the feather trade, they are killed in a fraction of that time. Birds bred for high-quality wing feathers can endure years of cutting or plucking before slaughter. Those bred for lower-quality feathers are plucked once and killed as babies, at just 10 to 14 months old.
What shoppers think
New polling commissioned for the report (across the UK, US, Australia and New Zealand) shows how little the public knows, and how strongly they react when they find out. *
- Roughly half (47%) believe ostrich feathers are collected during natural shedding. Just 16% believe live birds are plucked.
- Once they know the reality, 83% agree that farming and killing ostriches for fashion should be banned.
- 81% see brands that use ostrich feathers as less ethical and sustainable.
There are brands already saying no
A wave of A-list celebrities have worn ostrich feathers on the Met Gala and Oscars red carpets, and the trend has trickled down from luxury houses to fast fashion. But some key players in the fashion industry are rejecting ostrich feathers and embracing positive change.
Selfridges, Wolf & Badger, ASOS and GANNI have introduced policies protecting ostriches. Copenhagen, Berlin, Amsterdam and Australian Fashion Week have all introduced wildlife-friendly policies that include a ban on ostrich feathers.
Producers like FEVVERS, a plant-based alternative to feathers, are collaborating with luxury brands like Stella McCartney to bring innovative feather mimicry to the runway.
World Animal Protection and Collective Fashion Justice are calling on all brands, retailers and fashion week events to adopt clear, time-bound policies to phase out ostrich feathers - and all wild animal materials - for good.