Activists Take Over Hermès Runway
Update (28 September 2024): Activists Take Over Hermès Runway
During the Hermès Spring/Summer 2025 show at Paris Fashion Week, three activists took turns storming the runway wearing tops that read “Animals Are Not Fabric” and holding signs with the message “Hermès: Ban Wild-Animal Skins.” This is PETA entities’ third disruption of the season, following appearances on Burberry and Dior catwalks.
Update (2 October 2023):
French influencer Jeremstar was arrested and carried away by police during a PETA France protest at Paris Fashion Week.
https://twitter.com/PETA_France/status/1708831126364532997
Jeremstar rocked up at the Louis Vuitton show on the city’s iconic Avenue des Champs-Élysées in a “snakeskin” suit and body paint to protest the brand’s use of exotic skins.
This was the second stunt PETA entities pulled during Paris Fashion Week. Read on to find out why we’re calling out brands for using exotic skins.
Original post (30 September 2023):
Today, as Hermès held its much-anticipated show at the Garde Républicaine in Paris, a PETA supporter stormed the runway, brandishing a sign that read, “Hermès: Drop Exotic Skins.”
See how the action unfolded:
HAPPENING NOW: PETA model takes over @Hermes_Paris runway with a simple message: “Hermès: Drop Exotic Skins.” #ParisFashionWeek #HermesFemme #pfw pic.twitter.com/XHYvYNxmYs
— PETA UK (@PETAUK) September 30, 2023
PETA Takes Over Runways From New York to Milan
This is the fourth fashion week show disrupted by PETA entities this season. Runway takeovers also happened at shows by Burberry (London), Gucci (Milan), and Coach (New York).
Crocodiles Are NOT Handbags
Crocodiles are bludgeoned, gutted, and skinned alive to be turned into bags, belts, and other accessories. Did you know that it takes at least three crocodiles to make just one Hermès handbag?
PETA US became a Hermès shareholder in 2015 after exposing cruelty at reptile farms in Texas and Zimbabwe that supplied a Hermès-owned tannery. In 2017, an exposé in Vietnam showed crocodiles confined to grim concrete stalls with unsanitary pools and being subjected to a violent death. Footage showed workers cutting into their spines while they were still alive and peeling off their skin.
In addition, a recent investigation by Kindness Project filmed on Australian farms owned by Hermès revealed that crocodiles were being kept in cramped, barren enclosures and cages and then mutilated and stabbed with a screwdriver.
In 2016, a PETA US exposé revealed the suffering of young ostriches at a Hermès supplier.
Earlier this year, following the passing of actor and singer Jane Birkin, who once asked for her name to be removed from the Hermès Birkin crocodile-skin bag due to concerns over cruelty to animals, PETA asked the luxury fashion label to retire the handbag.
Exotic Skins Are Out – Compassion Is In
Many designers, including Mulberry, Victoria Beckham, Karl Lagerfeld, Paul Smith, Chanel, and Stella McCartney, have banned exotic skins from their collections.
It’s time for Hermès to drop these cruelly obtained materials, too. Join our campaign – send Hermès a message now:
