Animal rights group PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) is repeating its efforts to persuade French luxury fashion house Hermès to stop using crocodile skin for the brand’s iconic Birkin bag.
The latest call for the luxury brand comes days after the death of Jane Birkin, the actress and singer who was the inspiration for the famous luxury handbag.
In an open letter to Hermès, PETA UK is calling on the French fashion house to ban the use of exotic animals in its products in honor of the late personality.
Birkin himself disagreed with the crocodile leather version
In fact, Birkin had issues with the crocodile skin version of the bag herself, asking Hermès to stop associating her name with it back in 2015 after seeing a PETA video showing slaughter scenes from a breeding farm.
Hermès then investigated the Texas farm shown and promised to “fix and sanction” violations of international animal welfare agreements. Birkin then allowed her name to continue to be used. However, Hermès’ actions were not enough, so PETA is now repeating its demands on the fashion house.
“Will Hermès continue to look back in time and treat these magnificent and highly intelligent exotic animals as nothing more than living, breathing ‘stuff’, or will you champion positive change and commit to continuing Birkin’s legacy in a way that respects nature and all who live in it, using the finest non-violent materials to create a modern Birkin and other accessories? We hope that you will choose the latter,” commented PETA President Ingrid Newkirk in the most recent appeal.
To reinforce their point, PETA released footage of a farm that allegedly supplies Hermès with crocodile skin. In the video, which was produced as part of an investigation by the Kindness Project, crocodiles are seen in a confined space and later mutilated using inhumane methods.
The organization also claimed that it takes three crocodiles to make a single Hermès bag, citing the many designer labels that have outright banned exotic leathers, including Mulberry, Victoria Beckham and Karl Lagerfeld.