Ugg! Lambskin row breaks out over boots brand

A row is escalating in Tasmania over the supply of sheepskins used to make ugg boots for the US market.

The globe’s largest meat processing company, JBS Swift, is expected to front an Australian Senate hearing to answers questions about alleged abuse of market power.

It follows a complaint made to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission in February about the Brazilian-owned company.

The Tasmanian hide and skin processor, Cuthbertson Brothers, has alleged that production had been halved because the business could no longer tender for skins from the Longford abattoir, which Swift bought last year.

Company manager, Wayne Jones, said by locking the firm out of the Longford facility, Swift was using its market power to force Cuthbertson Brothers out of business, which was clearly in breach of the Trade Practices Act.

“The majority of sheep and lamb skins we produce go to the US as high quality uggs which are then sold as a premium Tasmanian product,” Jones said.

“Unless something is done to stop Swift abusing its market power, Tasmanian uggboots will be lost, as well as a valuable export market”

Jones said Cuthbertson Brothers were once 80% of the market. Since December, the company had only been able to get a “dribble” of sheep and lamb skins from Swift.

Becher Townsend, who represents small independent retailers in Tasmania, told Inside Retailing Cuthbertson Brothers had slipped from having 80% of the market to between 10% and 20%.

“It’s savage for them. They’re copping it in the neck,” he said.

“It’s a family company, over 150 years old, the same family that owns Blundstone boots.

“The long and the short of it is the lamb skins are sent to the largest tannery in the world, Hinnan Proposer in China, and used to make high end consumer goods and in particular ugg boots. From what I can gather the vast majority, but not all, of branded ugg boots (Billabong, EMU, UGG, etc) sold in Australia would have come from this organisation.

“The top 10% of the lambskins processed annually go to make the ugg boot and the top 10% just happens to come from Cuthberton’s in Tasmania.

“That’s because of the high quality and clean-ness of the skins. Interstate, lambskins end up with grass seeds through them. Down in Tasmania, they don’t” Townsend said.

“As a result of what’s happening, the ugg boot is suffering as a result,” he said.

“It’s ironic, but if I walk down the road to Sheepskins & Opal World (in Hobart), I’d buy a pair of ugg boots which are probably made from Tasmanian lambskin, sent to China, value-added and sent back here to be sold to tourists, particularly from south-east Asia”.

Townsend said Swift had closed an abattoir on King Island last week for six to eight weeks in order to “review services”.

“So they are also jeopardising the King Island brand - all the food and dairy products - and that one is deeply distressing to watch.”

Pamela’s a pup’s bosom buddy

Pamela Anderson reportedly refused to act alongside a dog in her new film.

The animal rights campaigner was upset when she discovered she would be starring alongside the canine in Superhero Movie, because the scene goes against PETA’s guidelines for using real animals in movies.

A movie insider said: “Pamela left the set and went for a walk. She needed a time out. She was that upset.”

In the scene, Pamela’s Invisible Girl character was required to call for her Invisible Dog, who only becomes visible as it is picked up by the busty blonde.

Even though director Craig Mazin worked around the actress’ refusal by piecing together some shots of the dog that were filmed when the actress wasn’t around, the scene failed to make the final cut.

The Motion Picture Association of America’s Ratings Board disapproved of a bestiality joke in the scene which suggested the dog had been sexually satisfying a superhero professor.

Pammie has a strong connection with PETA, and even stopped wearing her beloved Ugg boots sheepskin boots after she realised they were made from animals.

She wrote on her blog: “I’m getting rid of my UGGs. I feel so guilty for that craze being started around my Baywatch days - I used to wear them with my red swimsuit to keep warm - never realising that they were SKIN!

“I thought they were shaved kindly. People like to tell me all the time that I started that trend - yikes!”