Munich – November 06, 2026 -- Animal rights group Animal Equality staged a protest at the Mytheresa shareholder meeting in Aschheim near Munich, targeting board chair Nora Aufreiter over caged-hen egg supply at US grocer Kroger.
Aufreiter chairs the supervisory board of LuxExperience, the parent company of Munich luxury fashion retailer Mytheresa. She also sits on the board of Kroger, the second-largest grocery retailer in the United States. Activists used a large screen mounted on a moving truck, placards and chanting to show conditions for caged hens and to link the fashion company to them.
Kroger dropped its 2025 cage-free pledge
In 2016, Kroger promised to stop using eggs from caged hens entirely by the end of 2025. It now aims for only 70 percent cage-free by 2030, with no plan to end caging completely, according to Animal Equality. The group says up to 12 million hens per year are kept in cages in Kroger's supply chains, each with less space than an A4 sheet of paper.
Caged hens cannot spread their wings, walk or act naturally, the organization says. Cage systems for egg production are already banned in Germany.
Campaigner calls on Aufreiter to use her oversight role
Till Hartmann, campaigner at Animal Equality Germany, said Aufreiter's silence on Kroger's failure raises questions about her ethical credibility in Munich. He called on her to exercise her oversight responsibility.
Animal Equality also challenges Mytheresa's image as a responsible luxury brand focused on sustainability while it accepts such a board chair.
Protests continue in Germany and abroad
The Aschheim action is part of an international campaign. Activists had already demonstrated at the Mytheresa site in May and July. A month of protests is currently under way at technology company Dell in Dublin. Further actions in Germany and worldwide are planned for the coming months.