CFDA chief apologizes after physically restraining PETA protesters at New York Fashion Week show
The head of America's leading trade association for fashion has apologized after he was captured on video physically restraining two animal rights protesters who disrupted a New York Fashion Week runway show Sunday.
Steven Kolb, president and CEO of the Council of Fashion Designers of America, said in a statement that he "acted inappropriately" in the incident, which took place at a runway show for the Swedish brand COS.
The two protestors with whom Kolb interacted are both members of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), according to the organization, which also shared footage of the incident.
Video footage released by PETA shows Kolb pulling a sign from a protester and later grabbing her and pulling her to the floor. At one point he is seen putting his hand over the protester's mouth. The footage also shows Kolb covering the face of another protester.
Kolb apologized in a statement shared Sunday on his Instagram page, according to The New York Times. Kolb's Instagram page is now private.
"I reacted inappropriately to an incident at a show earlier today," Kolb wrote in the statement, according to The Times. "It wasn't my place to do so. I should have let the security team handle the situation."
ABC News has reached out to the CFDA for comment.
Kolb has been the organization's CEO and president for the past 20 years, according to his LinkedIn page. The CFDA represents more than 300 of America's "foremost womenswear, menswear, jewelry and accessories designers," according to the organization's website.
The two activists were protesting the use of wool by COS's parent company, H&M Group, according to PETA.
“Today’s actions show how top people in fashion use violence to silence people who expose how sheep are beaten, bloodied, and violently killed for scarves and sweaters,” PETA founder Ingrid Newkirk said in a statement Sunday. “PETA is calling on H&M and COS to ban wool from its collections and is urging everyone to shop elsewhere until they do.”
PETA did not reply Monday to ABC News' request for further comment.
A spokesperson for the H&M Group told ABC News in a statement Monday that the company is "committed to continuously improving animal welfare across our value chain."
"Animal welfare is very important to us at H&M Group, and no animals should be harmed in the making of our products. We take allegations of breaches of the third‑party certifications we rely on very seriously," the spokesperson said. "We only source animal fibres from certified farms and, where possible, from recycled sources, where quality and availability allow. All virgin wool and mohair used in our products come from farms certified by the Responsible Wool Standard (RWS) and the Responsible Mohair Standard (RMS). Both third‑party certification systems are owned and governed by Textile Exchange."
The spokesperson continued, "Following the investigations carried out by the certification body into PETA's allegations related to mohair and wool farms, licenses for one mohair and one wool farm have been suspended, and these farms are no longer permitted to sell certified materials."
This year's September New York Fashion Week, which is overseen by the CFDA, is the first in which animal fur products are not being promoted. The new policy prohibits fur from animals killed specifically for their pelts, including mink, fox, rabbit, chinchilla and coyote.
The CFDA announced the fur ban last December, with Kolb saying at the time that the organization wanted to encourage American designers to "think more deeply about the fashion industry's impact on animals."
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