London Fashion Week – Chloe Ross ‘Dies’ for a ‘Snakeskin’ Bag
“Every year, millions of beautiful snakes, lizards, alligators, and crocodiles are needlessly killed in horrific ways for fashion accessories. This makes my blood run cold! No handbag, belt, or wallet is worth so much pain and suffering – so let’s leave wildlife in the wild and end the exotic-skins trade.”
– Chloe Ross
The Only Way is Essex star Chloe Ross joined PETA in a protest at London Fashion Week to urge the industry to bin exotic skins. Snakes, crocodiles, and other animals aren’t handbags or shoes. They’re living, feeling beings – just like us. These animals suffer for hours – some for days – as they’re beaten, abused, and killed for their skin.
There’s no excuse for killing them for a fashion accessory that no one needs and, increasingly, no one wants.
The best way to help these animals is to leave them out of your wardrobe, and that’s what we’re asking fashion-lovers to do.
Animal Cruelty for the Sake of a Bag
A recent PETA Asia exposé of a farm in Vietnam that supplies snakes’ skin for use in the global fashion industry revealed horrific cruelty to animals, including sealing snakes’ mouths and anuses with rubber bands and inflating them to death with an air compressor, crushing their heart and causing severe pain.
And new footage from Kindness Project shows crocodiles on farms with ties to Hermès confined to concrete pens, electrocuted, stabbed, shot, and mutilated with screwdrivers.
Exotic Skins Are Deadly
The exotic-skins industry also poses a significant public-health risk. Experts warn that the unsanitary and crowded conditions in which animals are kept serve as the perfect breeding
ground for viruses such as the one that caused the COVID-19 pandemic. Do we really want to risk another pandemic for the sake of snakeskin shoes?
Wildlife experts believe that the endangered species of tomorrow can be seen in today’s designer boutiques and fashion magazines.
Exotic skins are also disastrous for the environment. The chemicals used to turn animals’ skins into finished leather products are known carcinogens and environmental pollutants. However you look at it, making garments from the skin of animals is bad news.
London Fashion Week Should Be Setting the Trends
It’s time for London Fashion Week to reflect the feelings of the public and ban all skins from the catwalk. A growing number of companies understand that bags, belts, and watches made from exotic skins are products of cruelty, and they’re increasingly ditching them in favour of cruelty-free alternatives.
Just look at some of the brands that have already committed to dropping croc and all other exotic skins: Karl Lagerfeld, Chanel, Diane von Furstenberg, Hugo Boss, Stella McCartney, Vivienne Westwood, Victoria Beckham, Calvin Klein, and Mulberry. And they’re just the big names.
You Can Choose to Support Cruelty or Kindness
With so many stylish and cruelty-free alternatives like “fake snake” and “mock croc” widely available from the high street and luxury boutiques, there’s absolutely no need or justification for wearing the skin of another animal.
Check out our guide to get you on the fashion-forward path to a compassionate future.
Take Action to Help Snakes and Crocodiles
Every belt or handbag made from exotic skins represents the pain of a tortured animal whose skin was torn from their body. Join PETA in urging these brands to drop exotic skins:
