Pittsburgh Tribune-Review -- Protesters Seek to Expose Victoria's "Dirty" Secret

Leslie Patterson stood in front of the Victoria's Secret store on Walnut Street last month with a sign that read: "Destroying forests is not sexy."

Patterson, 31, of Squirrel Hill, was protesting the lingerie chain's use of endangered forests for paper in the 395 million catalogs it mails annually, she said. That's more than 1 million catalogues a day, she said.

"We've had a little bit of heckling, but for the most part, they say, 'Thanks for letting us know,'" Patterson said at the July event, sponsored by Pittsburgh's Voices for Animals.

The group plans to hold its fifth protest of the year Saturday, and organizer Dan Villa, 26, of Squirrel Hill, said more people are becoming aware of the issues -- the goal of the campaign is to get the company to go from using no recycled materials in its catalogs to 50 percent.

"These are endangered forests," he said. "They are the lungs of the planet. Once you cut it down, it's gone."

But Sara Droz, 23, of Shadyside, saw last month's protest and said she was still confused.

"I think it's a little inappropriate to be in the middle of the street blocking the store like that," Droz said. "I don't even know how it kills wildlife."

In fact, the first time Voices for Animals staged a protest in front of the store, people asked, "They make underwear out of trees?" Villa said.

Since the campaign began last year, Victoria's Secret has made one change: It now prints its clearance catalogue -- which accounts for 10 percent of its volume -- on at least 80 percent recycled paper, said Kristi Chester Vance, spokeswoman for ForestEthics, the San Francisco-based group that engineered the campaign and works for corporate environmental reform.

"We're thrilled with them doing that, but it's only 10 percent of their catalogs," Chester Vance said. "We've got to deal with the other 900,000 a day."

She said people on Victoria's Secret's mailing list get one catalog every two weeks, or about 24 a year. As much as 25 percent of the paper comes from the Great Canadian Boreal forest, which stretches from Alaska to the Atlantic and is 13 times the size of California, she added.

"No one talks about this forest, but if you care about the air and water you should care about this forest," Chester Vance said. "Would you rather have it standing, or would you rather have it delivered as junk mail?"

More than 200 protests have been staged across the country since the campaign started last year. At some locations, the protests have temporarily closed down the stores and forced the cancellation of the company's "Angels across America" tour.

The Walnut Street store has remained open during all the Voice for Animals protests. The store manager could not comment on the issue.