LVMH Must Drop Fur and Exotic Skins to Be Olympic Sponsor, Says PETA

LVMH Must Drop Fur and Exotic Skins to Be Olympic Sponsor, Says PETA

Paris – In response to reports that LVMH – owner of Louis Vuitton and Fendi – is set to be an official sponsor of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, PETA sent a letter to International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach urging him to greenlight LVMH’s sponsorship only if the fashion company agrees to stop selling fur and exotic skins, as the production of those items is not only deeply cruel to animals but also a known pandemic risk.

Fur farms in multiple countries, including Denmark, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, and the US saw outbreaks of COVID-19 in animals and workers, and a dangerous mutation of the virus in minks spread to humans. Experts have now warned that the unsanitary and crowded conditions on farms and at slaughterhouses in the exotic-skins supply chain are a perfect breeding ground for viruses such as the one that caused the COVID-19 pandemic, which severely impacted the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games.

“LVMH has so far failed to act responsibly and continues to risk the public’s health with its mink coats and python bags,” writes PETA Vice President Mimi Bekhechi. “We all know the terrible toll COVID-19 took on lives around the globe, so it would be unconscionable for the next Olympic Games to be sponsored by a company that supports these dangerous industries.”

A PETA Asia investigation into two Indonesian slaughterhouses that supply LVMH showed workers striking pythons repeatedly on the head then suspending them in the air and forcing hoses down their throats to inflate them with water, making it easier to remove their skin. Workers disembowelled the snakes while they were likely still conscious. PETA Asia has also documented that rabbits were bludgeoned and chinchillas electrocuted for their fur, while minks and sables were driven to insanity by the extreme confinement they endure in the fur trade.

Among other designers, Burberry, Calvin Klein, Chanel, and Victoria Beckham have all banned fur and exotic skins from their collections.

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 7923 6244; [email protected]

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