Animal welfare is an area of particular attention for the Moncler Group.
As outlined in the Supplier Code of Conduct and confirmed within the Raw Material Manual, all partners are required to comply with current animal health and welfare regulations and to observe strict standards of protection covering every stage of animal treatment.
In particular, suppliers must ensure respect for the “Five Freedoms” in the welfare of farm animals: freedom from thirst and hunger; freedom from physical and thermal discomfort; freedom from pain, injury and disease; freedom to express natural behaviours; and freedom from fear and pain.
The Code requires suppliers to take all necessary measures to protect the behavioural, biological and emotional needs of animals, protecting the biodiversity of ecosystems in the sourcing areas and providing the origin of materials of animal origin.
The Group also undertakes not to use materials derived from endangered species according to the CITES Convention (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora).
Down
Down is one of the most important raw materials for Moncler. All suppliers are not only required to meet the highest quality standards, but also to act responsibly and with full respect for animal welfare.
In order to safeguard animal welfare, Moncler requires and verifies that its down suppliers comply with the stringent requirements laid down in the Moncler Technical Protocol called DIST (Down Integrity System & Traceability), available on the page dist.moncler.com. The DIST Protocol, first applied in 2015, regulates methods of breeding white geese and the traceability and technical quality of down. Moncler only purchases down that has obtained DIST certification.
Among the basic requirements that must be respected across the entire supply chain include the following:
- down must be exclusively sourced from farmed white geese and as a by-product of the food chain;
- no form of live-plucking or forced feeding is permitted.
The Protocol, drafted taking into consideration the peculiarities of Moncler’s supply chain, is the result of open and constructive dialogue within the scope of a multi-stakeholder forum set up in 2014, which considered the expectations of the various stakeholders to ensure a scientific and holistic approach to the topic of animal welfare and product traceability. The forum, chaired by a professor of Management at the Ca’ Foscari University of Venice with specific knowledge and expertise in sustainability issues, consists of Moncler people, experts from the Department of Veterinary Medicine of the University of Milan, the Polish National Institute of Animal Husbandry Koluda Wielka, Compassion in World Farming (a non-governmental organisation dedicated to the welfare of farm animals), representatives from certification and consulting companies (SGS, Control Union, IDFL and KPMG), and, starting in 2023, following the inclusion in the DIST protocol of specific modules on human rights and environmental compliance, representatives of the International Labour Organization. Based on the belief that dialogue is a source of improvement, the twelfth multi-stakeholder forum was held in March 2026, during which the results of the certification process were discussed and the outcomes of the activities carried out to identify the main environmental impacts along the down supply chain were shared.
The DIST Protocol assesses animal welfare from an innovative perspective. In addition to the traditional approach that focuses on the environment in which the animal lives (in terms of availability of food and water, adequate space for movement, etc.), the Protocol, in line with the European Commission guidelines, also assesses welfare by carefully observing the animal through the so-called Animal-Based Measures (ABMs)1 . ABMs allow a direct assessment of an animal's condition, by observing how geese respond to the different factors of the environment in which they live (outcome approach). The DIST Protocol features nine ABMs, including but not limited to measures designed to identify unusual behaviours or aspects such as plumophagia2, dislocated or broken wings, feather irregularities and abnormal beak colour. These situations can be associated with environments in which welfare of geese is compromised by various factors, including high animal density, inadequate diet, lack of pasture or inappropriate animal management. Another important, innovative indicator introduced in the Protocol is the evaluation of the human-animal interaction through the response to a specific test (the HAR test, Estep and Hetts, 1992).
All down suppliers must strictly comply with the Protocol's requirements to ensure raw material traceability, animal welfare and the highest quality at every link of the down supply chain.
To verify compliance with the principles set out in the Protocol, Moncler constantly carries out strict field audits throughout its almost entirely vertically integrated down supply chain. The down supply chain includes different types of entities: farms; slaughterhouses where animals are mainly slaughtered for meat production and where down is subsequently collected; and companies responsible for washing, cleaning, sorting and processing the raw material. Façon manufacturers who realise the finished products downstream the down purchasing process also have to be taken into account.
To ensure the utmost impartiality of audits:
- audits are commissioned and paid directly by Moncler and not by the supplier;
- the audit and certification process is carried out by a qualified third-party entity, whose auditors are trained by veterinarians and zootechnicians of the Department of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Milan;
- the certification authority is in turn audited by another accredited external certification body.
In particular, in 2025, 205 third-party on-site audits were carried out, verifying all entities in the supply chain. Where auditors found minor non-compliances, farms were required to take timely corrective action before obtaining certification. No cases of live-plucking of animals or forced-feeding were found during audits at any farm.
To transparently communicate the Company’s commitment in this area, a tag indicating “DIST-certified down” is included in all Moncler’s jackets. This important result was achieved by extending down traceability according to DIST Proocol across the entire supply chain, all the way through the finished product.
In order to promote constant improvement, Moncler is committed to involving and raising awareness throughout its supply chain, including through training activities. In this regard, in 2025, training on the traceability procedure continued for façon manufacturers of outerwear and knitwear. In addition, again during the year, several online training sessions were held with the auditors of the third-party specialised firm that conducts on-site audits, focusing on the requirements in the new modules on human rights and environmental compliance.
The DIST Protocol is a stringent and innovative document and is intended to remain so. This is why it is constantly evolving and is subject to periodic review through the multi-stakeholder forum. However significant these results may be, Moncler has no intention to stop there. Rather, it is determined to continue to strive to promote increasingly ambitious standards, while welcoming the insights provided by stakeholders.
Stone Island is also committed to ensuring that the down used in its products is obtained in a manner respectful of animal welfare. Since 2019, the Company has only purchased duck down certified according to the Responsible Down Standard (RDS) protocol. The standard aims to ensure that the down used comes from farms that protect animal welfare throughout the production chain and full traceability of certified materials. In particular, since 2023, a label with the RDS logo and certification information is applied to all Stone Island brand products containing down in accordance with the standard’s guidelines. In addition, since 2023, all suppliers in the RDS-certified down supply chain have been subject to third-party audits to ensure compliance with the Group’s new human rights and environment modules.
Fur
The Moncler Group, by adhering to the Fur-Free Retailer Policy, has undertaken not to using animal fur in its collections. The word “fur” refers to any skin with hair from animals raised or caught in the wild exclusively or primarily for their fur, for example fox, mink, coyote, finn raccoon, ermine, rabbit, etc.
Short and long hair shearling from livestock primarily raised for meat, (e.g. calf, cow, sheep, lamb and goat) do not fall under the above definition of “fur”. To ensure that such animals are indeed a by-product of the food supply chain, the Group requires a third-party audit to be carried out on the supply chain.
The last collection of the Moncler brand that included fur was the Fall/Winter 2023 collection, while Stone Island has not used fur since 2018.
As an alternative to fur, the Group also uses synthetic materials.
Wool
To safeguard animal welfare, the Moncler Group has defined specific targets for the various types of wool used.
In particular, since the 2025 collections, it has exclusively purchased mulesing free certified merino wool, meaning wool from sheep not subjected to the practice of mulesing, which consists of removing a portion of skin around the tail to prevent parasitic infections. At the same time, over 70% of wool is certified according to specific standards (e.g. Responsible Wool Standard (RWS), Nativa or Sustainawool)3.
In addition, the Group uses only alpaca and mohair certified according to the Responsible Alpaca Standard (RAS) and Responsible Mohair Standard (RMS), respectively.
