Milan Fashion Week: PETA Supporters ‘Skinned’ in Protests Against Exotic Skins
Dressed in snake costumes and dripping with “blood”, PETA supporters were strung up and “cut open” while screaming in Piazza del Duomo alongside a banner proclaiming, “Say NO to Exotic Skins Cruelty: Let Snakes Live.”
The action comes at the start of Milan Fashion Week and is part of PETA’s campaign calling on the event’s organisers to ban exotic skins from the catwalks.
How Snakeskin Purses Are Really Made
Every garment or accessory made from exotic skins shown on the catwalk represents the violent death of a vulnerable animal.
A recently released PETA Asia investigation into Indonesian slaughterhouses that supply snakes’ skins for Louis Vuitton’s owner, LVMH, revealed horrific cruelty to animals, as workers bashed pythons repeatedly on the head with hammers, suspended them by ropes to gantries, and rammed hoses into their mouths to inflate them with water. Footage showed at least one snake’s tail moving while a worker cut the animal’s skin with a razorblade.
Is the Next Pandemic in Your Wardrobe?
Conservation experts have warned that the practices of the exotic-skins industry increase the risk of future epidemics, as the wild animals it exploits are typically confined and slaughtered in filthy conditions – akin to those found at “wet markets” – which make an ideal breeding ground for pathogens similar to the novel coronavirus.
PETA Asia
Snakes Deserve Compassion
When it comes to our ability to feel fear and our desire to be free from pain, we are all the same, whether we have skin, fur, or scales. Snakes are intelligent, they’re quick learners, and some cobras even “play dead” until potential threats have passed.
Just like us, snakes want to enjoy their life, and they feel fear when threatened.
Take Action Now
The good news is that exotic skins are falling out of favour. Many major designers and retailers – including Burberry, Chanel, and Victoria Beckham – have banned exotic skins from their collections, and the state of California has banned them from being sold altogether.
We are urging all other designers to join the vegan fashion revolution and part ways with cruelly obtained exotic skins. Use your consumer power and send them a polite message today:
