Owner of Zara and Massimo Dutti stores joins M&S, Topshop, Primark and H&M in banning fur after Peta campaign highlighted cruelty to rabbits in Chinese factories

Inditex, the world’s largest fashion retailer and parent company to Zara and Massimo Dutti, has bowed to pressure form animal rights activists and will stop selling clothing made from angora in its more than 6,400 stores around the world.

As part of the company’s commitment, the thousands of fluffy jumpers and angora coats and caps now sitting in its warehouses will be sent to Syrian refugees in Lebanon.

The announcement comes after more than a year of talks with People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (Peta), which had conducted an investigation into the production of the luxury fibre.

In 2013, after visiting 10 angora farms in China, Peta released graphic footage showing fur being ripped out of live rabbits to ensure the angora fibres were as long and thick as possible. The rabbits, whose front and back paws were tied, screamed and writhed in pain as their fur was torn out. Bald and bleeding, the rabbits were pushed back into cramped cages to regrow their fur until it could be plucked again.

The footage, said Peta, reflected the standard conditions for angora rabbits in China, which today is home to 90% of the angora fur trade. The Peta investigation prompted several retailers, including Marks & Spencer, Topshop and Primark, to stop selling garments made from angora. In an about-face from its 2012 advert featuring Lana Del Rey clad in a light pink angora sweater, H&M also said it would stop selling angora.

Inditex, controlled by founder Amancio Ortega, one of the world’s richest people with an estimated $63bn (£41bn) fortune, initially stayed quiet. After a petition urging an end to global angora sales gathered more than 300,000 signatures online, the retailer said it would suspend its orders until it could verify that its supplier farms were in compliance with company requirements.

Now the company has told the Guardian it will not be resuming its sales of angora. “We found no evidence of cruel practices at the farms providing angora wool to our suppliers,” Inditex said. “But after consultation with animal welfare organisations to explore more sustainable ways to produce angora and help develop better standards within the industry, we have decided that banning angora production was the right decision.”

The Inditex statement was welcomed by Peta. “Inditex is the largest clothing retailer in the world. When it comes to animal welfare policies, many of their competitors look to them and try to follow in their footsteps,” said the group’s president Ingrid Newkirk.