Giordano, a Hong Kong-based clothing chain, has joined a campaign against Australian wool, launched by animal rights groups.

The campaign is actually against the cruel practice of mulesing, in which a slice of flesh from lambs’ rear ends is severed to save the animal from dying of flystrike, a kind of infestation of flesh-eating maggots.

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), a group based in the US, is leading the campaign against mulesing of sheep that it calls as "barbaric".

Giordano, which operates over 2,400 outlets in Australia, Middle East and Asia, said it would ask its vendors to refrain from using wool grown from mulesed sheep as long as commercial alternatives are available.

PETA said Giordano has set a fine example and it urged other retailers to join the campaign.

According to PETA Asia Vice President Jason Baker, unveiling of Australia’s dirty secret has left customers all across Asia in a state of shock.

Following PETA’s efforts, several leading brands including Gap, Fitch, Hugo Boss, Abercrombie and Adidas have all stopped using Australian wool.

However, sheep breeders in Australia, one of the leading wool producers across the globe, justify the practice stating it to be necessary to ward off several slow and painful deaths.