14 DAY TRIAL // At the beginning of this week, fashion giant Hermes announced the decision to start its own crocodile breeding farms, as the only way possible to face increasing demand from customers, some of who have to wait for as much as three years to get a leather Hermes bag. PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) has not failed to respond to the initiative, by issuing a statement to warn Hermes of the consequences of such a decision.
The organization, which has repeatedly criticized the fashion industry for its penchant for real leather and fur, is now taking aim at the prestigious Hermes house, saying that breeding crocodiles is still murder – even if the crocs belong to it. At the same time, PETA stresses that customers should discourage the practice of killing animals for fashion by looking to buy only products made with mock/faux leather or fur.
“The thought of purposely breeding and killing crocodiles for an outdated, overpriced handbag should make any fashionista’s skin crawl.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’.” PETA Senior Vice President Dan Mathews says in the press statement just released.
Hermes has yet to respond to this but, given the statements made on Monday by Chief Executive Patrick Thomas, the demand is insanely high to stop manufacturing the much-coveted leather bags. As a matter of fact, the demand is so high that customers’ names are put on a waiting list to get just one of these bags, with the waiting period extending to a maximum of three years. Hermes is barely meeting its self-imposed target of 3,000 crocodile bags a year, Thomas said. This, coupled with the high demand, makes crocodile breeding farms necessary.
“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. The world is not full of crocodiles, except the stock exchange! We cannot face demand. We have massive over-demand. We are limited by our ability to train new craftsmen.” Thomas explained at the beginning of the week, as cited by Reuters. A crocodile Hermes bag can sell for up to 35,000 euros ($48,410).