Stop the Massacre: PETA US Urges LVMH and Hermès to Drop Exotic Skins During Annual Meetings
While many major designers have dropped exotic skins from their ranges, LVMH and Hermès are still selling these cruelly produced materials. As the two fashion houses held their annual meetings in Paris today, representatives of PETA US – a shareholder of both companies – targeted the events to call for an end to their support of this bloody trade.
LVMH: Blood on Their Hands
At LVMH, a PETA US representative attempted to call on CEO Bernard Arnault to end exotic-skin sales, but, excluded from the meeting space, she instead protested outside the meeting room as a bloody “snake”, loudly informing shareholders about how snakes and other reptiles are tortured so that their skins can end up as luxury accessories. Outside, activists held a “dead snake” and a sign where passers-by could read, “LVMH: Ban Exotic Skins”.
PETA US’ question – submitted to LVMH ahead of the meeting – ended with this: “Mr. Arnault, in your last report on social and environmental responsibility, you stated that ‘success is only worthwhile if it is virtuous’, but there is nothing virtuous about systemic cruelty and the exploitation of animals for the manufacturing of your bags. When will LVMH act on its promise to ‘forge a new alliance between LVMH and nature’ by removing fur and exotic skins from its future collections?”
Hermès: Time to Drop Croc
At the same time, a PETA US representative also attended the Hermès meeting, carrying an apple leather briefcase to emphasise the availability of luxurious ethical and eco-friendly materials. He called on CEO Axel Dumas to ban exotic-skin sales.
Exotic-Skins Industry: The Massacre That Has to Stop
Snakes and crocodiles are not accessories. They are sensitive individuals who go through hell before their skins are turned into “luxury” garments sold by Louis Vuitton and other LVMH brands or Hermès.
Can you stomach watching this PETA Asia investigation into Indonesian abattoirs that supply LVMH?
Snakes are being inflated with water, beaten with hammers, and cut with razors while they are likely still conscious.
PETA Asia
Did you know that it takes three crocodiles to make just one Hermès bag? Watch this investigation by the Kindness Project, filmed on farms owned by Hermès, to see crocodiles being kept in cramped, barren enclosures and cages and then mutilated and stabbed with a screwdriver.
Killing Crocodiles for Handbags Can Kill Us All
Keeping crocodiles crowded together in highly unhygienic conditions, one on top of the other in pits of putrid water, creates a major breeding ground for many zoonotic pathogens that can spread from other animals to humans. These agents of disease – including salmonella, vibrio, Aeromonas spp., Pseudomonas spp., E. coli, trichinella, and West Nile virus – all of which crocodilians have been found to carry and can pass on to humans.
If we don’t want another global pandemic, we need to shut down these hellholes and stop raising and slaughtering these animals for their skins.
Snakes and Crocodiles Need You to Take Action
Join our campaign: urge LVMH’s brands and Hermès to join the growing list of designers, including Mulberry, Victoria Beckham, Chanel, Stella McCartney, and Burberry, that do not use exotic skins. Send them a message now:
