Heads Up, Old Town: PETA Plans Protest Outside H&M on Tuesday

ALEXANDRIA, VA — If you’re walking along King Street around lunchtime Tuesday and spot people dressed as sheep outside H&M, you’re not imagining things. And despite the timing, it’s not an early Halloween parade.

Animal-rights organization PETA says supporters plan to demonstrate outside the H&M store at 614 King Street at noon Tuesday, October 27, as part of a campaign urging the clothing retailer to stop selling wool.

According to PETA’s announcement, participants will wear costumes portraying injured sheep, carry lifelike replicas of lambs, and share footage from an animal-welfare investigation. The organizers intend the display to be attention-getting, and some of the imagery could be unsettling, particularly for young children.

Why is PETA protesting H&M?

The demonstration follows a PETA Asia investigation of a South African wool operation. PETA alleges that its footage shows workers kicking and roughly handling sheep and injuring animals during shearing. PETA says the operation sells its wool through a broker that also supplies H&M Group. That reported connection is through a supplier, rather than evidence about any particular item sold in the Alexandria store.

H&M Group, for its part, maintains an animal-welfare policy updated in September 2026 requiring virgin sheep wool to come from farms certified under the Responsible Wool Standard or an equivalent approved program. Its policy lists the NATIVA wool program among accepted schemes. PETA argues that such certifications do not necessarily prevent animal mistreatment and wants H&M to stop selling wool altogether.

The Alexandria gathering is part of PETA’s broader campaign targeting H&M stores. For pedestrians, shoppers, and families who may be in Old Town that day, the key thing to know is that this is a planned advocacy demonstration, not a Halloween attraction.