14 DAY TRIAL // A fan of Hermes Birkin bags, of which she reportedly has about 100, valued at over £1.5 million, Victoria Beckham launched her own bag collection last year. PETA is now accusing her of cruelty for the way crocodiles are skinned to make the bags.
The People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals has long tried to convince designers that they didn’t need to breed or kill animals to make gorgeous fashion but, so far, the group hasn’t succeeded.
After attacking Hermes for breeding crocodiles for their bags, PETA is now picking a fight with Posh for the techniques used to skin the reptiles to make the bags – which are cruel, to say the least.
“Peta pledges to eat its own cloth hat if the animals skinned to make Victoria Beckham’s bags are humanely or ethically treated,” the group says in a statement cited by Contact Music.
Beckham says the crocodile skins are farmed in the US, while the bags are made in Italy. A rep for the fashionista and fashion designer insists the skinning is done by the book, without unnecessary harm inflicted on the crocodiles.
PETA obviously disagrees.
“Whether in America or elsewhere, exotic animals suffer tremendously before they are turned into accessories,” the statement further says.
“In the US, wild alligators are gaffed (skinned) alive in the swamps, strung up and skinned, or they are raised in filthy, crowded, waste-infused tanks, often in sheds, where the smell alone would knock you over,” the group argues.
“They may be killed by being repeatedly bludgeoned with baseball bats and having their spines crudely severed with hammers and chisels,” PETA adds.
A rep for Mrs. Beckham has also issued a statement to stay that the skins are farmed within Cites (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species) regulations, so there can be no talk of cruelty.
PETA believes this is one way of hiding the ugly truth.
“Exotic skins are produced by incredibly cruel means, no matter how Mrs. Beckham’s PR people try to spin it,” PETA fights back.