Armani Group said on Wednesday it would no longer use angora wool starting from the 2022-23 autumn/winter season, adding it to the list of excluded materials under its fur-free policy.

The Italian luxury company joins a string of brands banning the extremely soft wool removed from live rabbits, under pressure from animal rights organisations and more environmentally conscious shoppers.

Last month, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) announced that luxury e-commerce platform Farfetch would stop selling angora wool by April 2022.

The organisation launched a campaign years ago to ban angora wool, which is mainly produced in China, describing the techniques used to strip the fur from rabbits as cruel.

Armani’s move marks another step towards sustainability after the group banned animal fur in 2016 and signed in 2019 the ‘Fashion Pact’ with other major industry players to address climate change, the company said in a statement.

• Reporting by Claudia Cristoferi; Editing by Mark Potter, of Reuters.