Early this morning, at 9:30, it was released that the ever so "fashionable" French company, Hermes, has come up with a new plan to make even more of their ever so popular leather bags. Except now instead of using traditional skins to make the leather, the company has succumbed to using crocodile skin to make their precious bags. [1]The story goes on though... Not only are they using crocodile skin to make these bags, they have also released that it actually takes them between three and four crocodiles to make ONE bag, which can sell for $50, 000! They claim that these purses are on hot and high demand, and many people who are desperate to have all of the latest fashions, are willing to wait over a year just to have their bag custom made.[1] Let's be honest though, fashion styles change constantly, and by the time these customers finally receive their expensive purses, chances are the styles will have changed and their bags will be worthless.
Hermes hasn't quite thought this far ahead though, because they have gone on to set up their own crocodile farms in Australia. The crocodiles bred here will be used strictly to make these bags. The chief executive of Hermes, Patrick Thomas, sums his side of the story up by saying:
"It can take three to four crocodiles to make one of our bags so we are now breeding our own crocodiles on our own farms, mainly in Australia," says Patrick Thomas, chief executive of the luxury line. "Hermes already faces a major challenge producing 3,000 crocodile bags a year. The world is not full of crocodiles, except the stock exchange!" [2]
Hermes makes it seem as if killing off that many poor innocent animals is no big deal, and a common, daily occurence. Well apparently for this luxury company it is, and they somewhat laugh it off. Fortunately, this news quickly spread throughout the public, and PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) was informed almost immediately.
Just in case, you do not know what PETA is, the easiest way to understand what they are all about is to read and analyze their mission statement, which is as follows:
"PETA works through public education, cruelty investigations, research, animal rescue, legislation, special events, celebrity involvement, and protest campaigns to focus its attention on the four areas in which the largest numbers of animals suffer the most intensely for the longest periods of time: on factory farms, in laboratories, in the clothing trade, and in the entertainment industry. We also work on a variety of other issues, including the cruel killing of beavers, birds and other "pests," and the abuse of backyard dogs. People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), with more than 2.0 million members and supporters, is the largest animal rights organization in the world." [3]
After reading this, you can really only imagine how outraged they were about the craziness of the new Hermes plan. The group also released an announcement, stating:
"The thought of purposely breeding and killing crocodiles for an outdated, overpriced handbag should make any fashionista's skin crawl. If Hermes really wants to be a leader in the fashion industry, it should stop killing animals for cold-blooded vanity and use cruelty-free mock croc and fake snake instead.
As Pink—who recently provided the voice of a computer-generated crocodile in PETA's "Stolen for Fashion" commercial—says killing animals for their skins is so disgusting that it doesn't make me want to befriend designers who use them." [2]
The commercial referred to in the clip shows just how wrong it is to use animal skins to make materialistic objects. It basically explains how cruel it is to the animals and how using their fur is "stealing," but it does so in an animated format that helps catch the viewers attention. Take a look for yourself:
[4]
"The thought of purposely breeding and killing crocodiles for an outdated, overpriced handbag should make any fashionista's skin crawl. If Hermes really wants to be a leader in the fashion industry, it should stop killing animals for cold-blooded vanity and use cruelty-free mock croc and fake snake instead.
As Pink—who recently provided the voice of a computer-generated crocodile in PETA's "Stolen for Fashion" commercial—says killing animals for their skins is so disgusting that it doesn't make me want to befriend designers who use them." [2]
The commercial referred to in the clip shows just how wrong it is to use animal skins to make materialistic objects. It basically explains how cruel it is to the animals and how using their fur is "stealing," but it does so in an animated format that helps catch the viewers attention. Take a look for yourself:
[4]
To be honest, I think this whole matter is really upsetting, like don't get me wrong I am not an activist and do think leather bags are quite nice, but the act of killing the crocodiles is completely wrong and unnecessary. It appears most people are agreeing with me on this matter too. Peta's Blog, titled "Leather is NOT a 'Luxury,'" describes how inhumanely the animals' skin is being taken off of these poor innocent creatures. It explains that half the time the animals are still alive while being skinned, meaning they are able to cry out in distress and feel all of the pain. [5]Another blogger, Perez Hilton, wrote a blog called "What the Croc?" talking about the issue. His latest comment update? "Faux is in." [2] These two other blogs, although they address the issue differently, have recieved numerous comments also claiming that the making of these fashion handbags is wrong, and far from being legit.
SO, here's the question, if all of these readers are complaining, how many people throughout the world are actually against the idea of crocodile leather bags? And for all of these people how many agree with the process and would buy the bags if given the chance? Up to now, no polls have been fully established or posted, so I would like to start one myself:
Hermes or PETA: which side are you on?
a.) Hermes
b.) PETA
c.) This really doesn't affect me, and I dont have an opinion.
VS
No comments:
Post a Comment