Patagonia raised the bar again in the sustainability arms race August 17 by firing its merino wool supplier and vowing not to resume purchasing wool until l it can build a supply chain that ensures humane treatment of sheep.

The decision was triggered by a disturbing report from PETA that featured grizzly videos of mistreatment of sheep by Argentine ranchers who supply Ovis 21, which has provided merino wool to Patagonia since 2011.

“In light of this, we’ve made a frank and open-eyed assessment of the Ovis program,” Patagonia CEO Rose Marcario wrote in a statement posted to the company's blog, The Cleanest Line late Monday afternoon. “Our conclusion: it is impossible to ensure immediate changes to objectionable practices on Ovis 21 ranches, and we have therefore made the decision that we will no longer buy wool from them. This is a difficult decision, but it’s the right thing to do.”

While the decision marked the first time Patagonia had terminated a supplier over the mistreatment of animals, according to Patagonia spokeswomen Tessa Byars, it will not mark the first time the company has built a supply chain from scratch after being embarrassed by an animal rights group.

Patagonia began rebuilding its supply chain for down in 2010 after a German animal rights group showed that down from force fed geese raised for the foie gras industry was still making its way into Patagonia products. Four years later, Patagonia launched its “100% Traceable Down” program and became the first brand to certify that the down used in all its products was cruelty free. Competing brands, led by The North Face, have since endorsed the rival “Responsible Down Standard,” but the acknowledge it will be years before the largest brands can convert their entire product line to the standard.

In her blog post, Marcario acknowledged that creating a supply chain for cruelty-free wool is a daunting task.
“Re-building our wool program-with a partner that can ensure a strong and consistent approach to animal welfare, while also fostering healthy grasslands-will be a significant challenge. However, we reject the notion that cruelty is essential to wool production, despite what PETA claims. Patagonia will continue to make products from wool because of its unique performance attributes. We will continue to sell products made from the wool we’ve already purchased. And we will continue to offer excellent synthetic alternatives for those who prefer them, while constantly pushing to innovate and invest in new materials and better supply chains. But Patagonia will not buy wool again until we can assure our customers of a verifiable process that ensures the humane treatment of animals, which it helped created in 2011 in a bid to promote more sustainable ranching practices.”

Marcario went on to recount how PETA's 2005 campaign against the practice of mulesing by Australian sheep farmers prompted Patagonia to seek out a new supply chain for merino wool. Mulesing involves removing wool around the sheep's tail to prevent flystrike, a condition that can ruin the quality of wool. However, the practice often resulted in the removal of flesh.

Criticism of the practice led Patagonia to begin sourcing merino wool from Argentina, where flystrike does not exist. It partnered with Ovis 21 in 2011 as part of a separate initiative to establish a supply chain that “regenerates rather than depletes grassland, keeps alive a way of life in the Patagonia region, and produces wool of unprecedented quality for our next-to-skin clothing.”

In its blog post last week, however, Patagonia acknowledge that it never thought to audit the animal welfare practices of Ovis 21's suppliers.

“We took some important steps to protect animals in partnering with Ovis 21, but we failed to implement a comprehensive process to assure animal welfare, and we are dismayed to witness such horrifying mistreatment,” the company stated in its more recent blog post.

Patagonia also noted that in early 2014, it began working collaboratively with numerous other brands and the Textile Exchange to develop the forthcoming Responsible Wool Standard for treating sheep and lambs that meets 21st century moral standards for the ethical treatment of animals.

PETA, which does not believe in the use of animals for any human purpose, was invited by the Textile Exchange to join this process, but declined. The process did include the participation of other animal-welfare organizations, according to Patagonia.

PETA's report comes just one week after Patagonia announced a venture to produce buffalo jerky with the goal of promoting more sustainable ranching practices in the United States.