PETA US Is Not Happy With Pharrell: Group Challenges Singer Over $1M Crocodile-Skin Bag
London – Following reports that Pharrell Williams’ collection for Louis Vuitton includes a $1 million made-to-order crocodile-skin bag, PETA US sent the singer a letter today inviting him to join the group on a tour of the filthy pits where crocodiles are confined before workers cut their necks open and cut off their skins while they’re still moving – practices that a PETA Asia investigation revealed are done by workers at suppliers for LVMH, Louis Vuitton’s parent company.
“We’d like to invite you on a less-than-luxurious tour of a filthy (for that’s what they are) crocodile factory farm with us to see the living origins of your ‘Millionaire’ bag. You’d want to bring along nose plugs and high boots to wade through fetid, waste-filled water. If we go to an indoor tank, also bring a flashlight, because you won’t see daylight,” writes PETA US Senior Vice President Lisa Lange. “There are no blurred lines here. Killing wildlife for a bag isn’t cool – it’s cold.”
Crocodiles are packed into a concrete pit at a farm that supplies skins to LVMH . Credit: PETA Asia
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, X (formerly Twitter), TikTok, or Instagram.
Contact:
Sascha Camilli +44 (0) 20 7923 6244; [email protected]
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PETA US’ letter to Pharrell follows.
Dear Pharrell,
This is an invitation the likes of which you’ve never been offered before.
When you were made men’s creative director of Louis Vuitton, we hoped animals would get lucky and that you would choose vegan fabrics, which are the preference of today’s ethical and environmentally conscious consumers. But we aren’t happy to note your newest design, the “Millionaire” Speedy bag, which is crafted from crocodile skin, because when it comes to animals being used for fashion, it isn’t beautiful—it’s abuse.
A PETA Asia investigation found workers at LVMH’s suppliers cutting live crocodiles’ necks open and ramming metal rods down their spines while they were still conscious. Another investigation revealed that workers at facilities supplying LVMH struck pythons repeatedly on the head, suspending them in the air, inflating their bodies with water, and disemboweling them—even as they moved about.
We’d like to invite you on a less-than-luxurious tour of a filthy (for that’s what they are) crocodile factory farm with us to see the living origins of your “Millionaire” bag. You’d want to bring along nose plugs and high boots to wade through fetid, waste-filled water. If we go to an indoor tank, also bring a flashlight, because you won’t see daylight. There are no blurred lines here. Killing wildlife for a bag isn’t cool—it’s cold. Are you up for this trip?
Best regards,
Lisa Lange
Senior Vice President, PETA US