{"id":224259,"date":"2026-09-15T07:57:53","date_gmt":"2026-09-15T07:57:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/fashion-council-president-takes-professional-leave-after-grabbing-peta-protester-at-fashion-week-nbc-news\/"},"modified":"2026-09-15T07:57:53","modified_gmt":"2026-09-15T07:57:53","slug":"fashion-council-president-takes-professional-leave-after-grabbing-peta-protester-at-fashion-week-nbc-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/fashion-council-president-takes-professional-leave-after-grabbing-peta-protester-at-fashion-week-nbc-news\/","title":{"rendered":"Fashion council president takes professional leave after grabbing PETA protester at fashion week – NBC News"},"content":{"rendered":"

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The CEO and president of the Council of Fashion Designers of America said he will voluntarily take a leave of absence after he was captured on video grabbing an animal rights protester and covering her mouth during a New York Fashion Week runway show Sunday.
In the video, which NBC News viewed, Steven Kolb grabbed the person from People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, who was protesting fashion designer COS\u2019 use of wool at its runway show. He then pulled the protester to the side of the runway, covering her mouth and using his leg to restrain her.
On Monday, Kolb apologized for his actions and said he took full responsibility.
\u201cWhat happened was completely out of character for me, both personally and as a leader,\u201d he said in a statement. \u201cAs I review the videos, I understand the reaction they have generated. Frankly, I don\u2019t recognize that person. As a result, I am taking a voluntary leave from work and meeting with a professional to ensure it never happens again.\u201d
The council did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Last year, the council, which is the leading trade organization for the fashion industry, announced<\/a> that beginning with the September 2026 New York Fashion Week, animal fur will no longer be permitted at any of the fashion week\u2019s events. The announcement did not mention wool.
PETA protester restrained by fashion CEO
PETA said in a statement that Kolb \u201cassaulted\u201d two of its protesters.
Kolb \u201cviolently grabbed one protester, held her to the floor, wrapped a leg around her, and covered her mouth and nose with his hands as she shouted, \u2018Sheep bloodied and beaten for wool,\u2019\u201d the animal rights group alleged in a statement.
\u201cKolb also shoved and grabbed a second PETA member who was filming the catwalk takeover and covered his face with his hand,\u201d PETA said. That was not shown in the video with Kolb.
Moira Colley, the senior director of media relations at PETA, said in an emailed statement that Kolb \u201creacted aggressively to peaceful protesters, thereby endorsing PETA\u2019s complaint that the fashion industry is unthinkingly violent.\u201d
\u201cPerhaps due to internal criticism, he has apologized for his behavior and now PETA will explore a meeting with him and ask him to watch footage from our 17 expos\u00e9s of the wool industry showing sheep being punched, kicked, and cut to ribbons for wool in the hope that he\u2019ll realize something must be done,\u201d she wrote.
Kolb said in his statement that he has accepted PETA\u2019s invitation to meet and discuss its concerns. He added that he intends to use the meeting to apologize to the two protesters in person.
\u201cThere is no justification for physically restraining another person,\u201d he added. \u201cSecurity should have handled the situation, and I should have stepped back. Nothing about the circumstances excuses my actions.\u201d
H&M Group, the Swedish parent company of COS, said in a statement Monday that \u201can unfortunate incident happened at the COS show, and our priority was always the safety of guests, models, and colleagues at the event.\u201d
\u201cWhen it comes to PETA\u2019s allegations on wool sourced for our brand we can share that, we only source animal fibres from certified farms and, where possible, from recycled sources, where quality and availability allow,\u201d the statement said. \u201cAll 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\u2011party certification systems are owned and governed by Textile Exchange.\u201d
The company said that after an investigation into PETA\u2019s allegations, licenses for one wool farm and one mohair farm \u201chave been suspended, and these farms are no longer permitted to sell certified materials.\u201d
\u201cAnimal welfare is very important to us at H&M Group, and no animals should be harmed in the making of our products,\u201d the statement said. \u201cWe take allegations of breaches of the third\u2011party certifications we rely on very seriously.\u201d
The company said it \u201cwelcome[s] investigations such as these, as they play an important role in strengthening standards and driving progress, and we remain committed to continuously improving animal welfare across our value chain.\u201d
Kolb said in a statement during its announcement banning animal fur last year that CFDA hoped \u201cto inspire American designers to think more deeply about the fashion industry\u2019s impact on animals.\u201d
\u201cConsumers are moving away from products associated with animal cruelty, and we want to position American fashion as a leader on those fronts, while also driving material innovation,\u201d he said.
Daniella Silva is a national reporter for NBC News, focusing on immigration.
Insiya Gandhi is an Assignment Editor based in New York.
Adam Reiss is a reporter and producer for NBC and MSNBC.
© 2026 NBCUniversal Media, LLC<\/p>\n

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news AlertsThere are no new alerts at this timeThe CEO and president of the Council of Fashion Designers of America said he will voluntarily take a leave of absence after he was captured on video grabbing an animal rights protester and covering her mouth during a New York Fashion Week runway show Sunday.In the video, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":224260,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-224259","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-us","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/224259","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=224259"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/224259\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/224260"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=224259"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=224259"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=224259"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}