The Giorgio Armani group on Tuesday hit back at claims by animal rights organisation Peta that the Italian fashion designer had gone back on his promise not to use fur in his collections.
The fashion group clarified that it had ''decided to stop making products with animal fur, except for rabbit fur which derives from animals already destined as a food source''.
The Armani group also criticised Peta activists for exploiting the fame of the company name in a bid to attract public attention.
''The use of fur in the house's collection has always been extremely limited, in contrast to what happens at other fashion houses that make fur their core business,'' the group said.
Peta activists staged a protest in front of the flagship Emporio Armani store in Milan earlier on Tuesday with giant posters showing Armani dressed as fib-telling puppet Pinocchio after Armani included fur decoration in his new autumn collection.
The organisation has produced a documentary about the rabbit farms and slaughterhouses in France and China from where the organisation claims Armani gets his supplies.
It has also begun lobbying lobbying Hollywood celebrities who wear his designs to public events - including actors Tom Cruise, Katie Holmes, Cate Blanchett and Glenn Close - to put pressure on the designer to stop using fur.
The Armani group said Tuesday that Peta's attempts to discredit the name of the company by ''directly contacting many people close'' to the fashion house was ''the most reprehensible'' aspect of the campaign.
