#DropCroc: Animals are suffering at the hands of Hermes and other luxury fashion brands, reveals Kindness Project exposé
A crocodile confined to a factory farm in Northern Territory Australia. Image: www.kindnessproject.org.au
London Fashion Week draws to a close today after five days of catwalk shows and, of course, a visually striking stunt by PETA. The animal rights group enlisted the help of The Only Way is Essex star Chloe Ross, who lay ‘dead’ on a plinth wearing a fake snakeskin, to demand that high-end fashion brand Hermes stop using exotic reptile skins to make its handbags and accessories. The protest follows a recent investigation by the Australian Farm Transparency Project (AFTP) which revealed that Hermes and other fashion houses including Louis Vuitton, Versace, and Gucci, source skins from crocodile factory farms in Australia’s Northern Territory.
For anyone outside the rarefied world of high fashion, it may come as a surprise to learn that exotic animal skins - mainly crocodile and snakeskin - are still popular. While some fashion brands are moving away from their use, such as Chanel and Victoria Beckham, others, like Hermes, seem to be doubling down on it. The company that owns two of the four crocodile farms investigated by AFTP, PRI Farming, which has two Hermes executives as board members, is aiming to build another crocodile farm with the capacity to hold 50,000 animals, which would make it the largest in Australia.
While clothing companies that use leather from cow skins and those who wear it can try to justify their actions by claiming the skins as a ‘by-product’ of the meat industry (this is a misconception; demand for leather creates an additional reason to kill animals), this excuse doesn’t fly when it comes to exotic animal skins. Producers like to claim they are aiding the conservation of these animals, an argument that conservation body IUCN also makes. But groups such as the German conservation organisation Pro Wildlife, AFTP and, of course, PETA, disagree. Either way, as others have pointed out, this doesn’t justify the horrific conditions and deaths that animals like crocodiles are subjected to on intensive farms used to supply fashion brands.
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It’s a small consolation that reptile skin products are more a part of the high-end fashion world than the high street one, and so not as widespread as cow leather. But there are at least signs that the majority of people disapprove of the use of reptile skins for fashion, with a Vegan Society report published last month containing survey results which found that 57 per cent of British shoppers feel that using leather from exotic animals is cruel.
Unsurprisingly, fewer people (37 per cent) feel the same about cow leather, partly for the aforementioned reasons of it being considered a byproduct, and partly because they hadn’t considered its origins at all. Nonetheless, an encouraging 74 per cent said they would be willing to pay more for plant-based leather alternatives. Luckily, there have been a number of developments in the production of plant-based leathers in recent years, including using recycled coffee grounds, grass, cactus, and corn. With vegan leather now becoming a staple in the collections of iconic brands such as Dr Martens, it’s becoming even easier for those who want to buy cruelty-free fashion to do so. But clearly, more work needs to be done to create public awareness of the harms of animal leather production
As for Hermes, you can take action through the Kindness Project to send the company a letter telling them to #DropCroc and opt for an alternative material instead.
Claire Hamlett is a freelance journalist, writer and regular contributor at Surge. Based in Oxford, UK, Claire tells stories that challenge systemic exploitation of and disregard for animals and the environment and that point to a better way of doing things.
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