Three PETA activists interrupted H&M's London Fashion Week show on September 17, walking onto the runway at Kensington Olympia with signs reading "H&M: Wool is bloody cruel. Drop it!" before security removed them and the presentation continued.
The disruption took place during H&M&YOU&I, the brand's return to London Fashion Week, creatively directed by photographer Nick Knight and his fashion platform SHOWstudio, with a soundtrack produced by Labrinth. According to video shared by PETA and reporting from multiple outlets, a male protester dressed in black walked the length of the runway early in the show, followed soon after by two female activists in black and green carrying the same placard. One of the protesters made it backstage and walked out alongside the models before being intercepted, completing a length of the runway before security stepped in. The audience at Kensington Olympia reportedly responded with audible gasps as the activists continued across the catwalk.
pEta is back on the runway in London for HM pic.twitter.com/ljqwclAcda
— lyas (@lyasssssss) September 17, 2026
Unlike a similar protest four days earlier, H&M's security team handled the London disruption without physical confrontation, allowing each protester to be walked off the runway calmly. That composure stood in sharp contrast to what happened on September 13 at a New York Fashion Week show for COS, H&M Group's sister brand. Footage from that event showed Council of Fashion Designers of America president and CEO Steven Kolb physically restraining two PETA activists, pinning one to the floor and covering her mouth as she shouted about the treatment of sheep. Kolb later apologized on Instagram for reacting "inappropriately" and said he should have left the situation to security. The CFDA has since placed him on leave while it reviews the incident, and PETA has said it filed a police report.
Steven Kolb, CEO of the Council of Fashion Designers of America, was captured on camera restraining a PETA protester during New York Fashion Week. pic.twitter.com/5ZDN8QhGwu
— Curio 𝑿 (@curious_X_) September 18, 2026
The London and New York demonstrations are both part of PETA's ongoing campaign pressuring H&M Group to stop using sheep's wool across its brands. The organization has pointed to an undercover investigation it says documented workers at a NATIVA-certified South African wool farm connected to H&M's supply chain kicking, beating and dragging sheep during shearing. PETA has escalated its pressure on the company throughout 2026 with store demonstrations, a mailed prop meant to evoke a bloodied lamb sent to H&M Group CEO Daniel Ervér, and now runway interruptions timed to two major fashion weeks in the same week. H&M has previously said it sources animal fibers only from certified farms and, where possible, from recycled sources, while acknowledging that it does not purchase wool directly from suppliers.
For H&M, the interruption arrived at a moment the brand had been positioning as a reset for its runway presence. H&M&YOU&I marked the company's second consecutive appearance on the London Fashion Week schedule, described ahead of the show as a departure from the music-and-celebrity format of its 2025 return, with an emphasis instead on self-expression and technology. The protest meant that, for the second time in a week, a runway built around a specific creative concept was overshadowed by activism aimed at the retailer's supply chain rather than the collection itself.
Neither H&M nor PETA had issued a formal joint statement on the London incident at the time of writing, though PETA continues to frame the wool campaign as ongoing across H&M Group's brands and stores. The pairing of the two fashion week disruptions, and the differing security responses in New York and London, has kept the wool debate part of the conversation around both events well beyond the runway itself.
