PETA Calls On Armani to Ditch Exotic Skins Following Launch of Alligator Watch

London – After the launch of the Giorgio Armani 11 watch, which features an alligator-skin band – modelled in promotional materials by founder Giorgio Armani – PETA is calling on the fashion house to join Chanel, Burberry, HUGO BOSS, and other brands that have cut ties with the cruel and dangerous exotic-skins industry.

“Behind every alligator watch band is a sensitive reptile who endured a horrific death,” says PETA’s corporate liaison for Italy, Patrizia Re. “If Armani is to be true to its stated core value that ‘ethics and aesthetics must coincide’ , it must do the right thing and acknowledge that it’s time to cut ties with the cruel exotic-skins trade.”

The new Giorgio Armani 11 watch is made in collaboration with Parmigiani Fleurier, a Swiss watchmaker known to source alligator watch bands from Hermès, which was implicated in a PETA US eyewitness investigation showing that alligators were kept in fetid water in dank, dark sheds and denied access to sunshine, fresh air, clean water, and basic medical care. A worker cut into the necks of more than 500 conscious alligators as they struggled to escape. Some were flailing and kicking for minutes after workers tried to kill them.

Conservationists have warned that the unsanitary and crowded conditions on farms and at slaughterhouses in the exotic-skins supply chain are a perfect breeding ground for zoonotic pathogens such as the one that caused the COVID-19 pandemic. Forward-thinking companies are meeting the growing demand for sustainable, animal-friendly products by offering vegan leather options made from pineapple leaves, mushrooms, apples, cactus, and more.

PETA – whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to wear” – opposes speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview. For more information, please visit PETA.org.uk or follow the group on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram.

Contact:

Sascha Camilli +44 (0) 20 7837 6327; [email protected]

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