Marc Jacobs Bans Reptile and Ostrich Skins

2 min read

Alligator-shaped vegan chocolates are on the way from PETA to Marc Jacobs in thanks for the luxury fashion brand’s ethical decision to ban the skins of crocodiles, lizards, ostriches, snakes, and other wildlife from its collections. This decision was confirmed after PETA shared exposés with the company that documented the appalling conditions that reptiles and other animals used by the fashion industry are forced to live in before they’re electroshocked, bludgeoned, or even skinned alive.

PETA applauds Marc Jacobs’ compassionate decision to cut ties with this cruel industry and urges designers everywhere to follow its lead.

Behind every ostrich- or reptile-skin handbag was an individual who endured a life of misery, pain, and filth before being hacked to bits.

Investigations by PETA entities have exposed how workers in the fashion industry inflate live snakes, bash them over the head with hammers, and slice them with razors; hack at crocodiles’ necks and shove metal rods into their heads; chop off conscious lizards’ heads with machetes; and electrically stun ostriches before slitting their throats in full view of their terrified flockmates.

Marc Jacobs joins a growing list of top designers and retailers—including Burberry, Chanel, Carolina Herrera, Diane von Furstenberg, Jean Paul Gaultier, Karl Lagerfeld, Nordstrom, Stella McCartney, Victoria Beckham, and Vivienne Westwood—that have banned the use of skins from reptiles and other wildlife.

Here’s How You Can Help Other Animals

Buy only vegan fashion. If you see a company selling exotic skins, politely inform its leadership and customer service that the exotic-skins industry forces wild animals to spend years inside cramped concrete pits—some narrower than the length of their bodies. At the end of their short, miserable lives, they endure a terrifying death so that companies can sell their skins.

Nearly 130,000 PETA supporters have urged LVMH—the parent company of Louis Vuitton—to follow the lead of conscientious retailers by banning exotic skins. You can join them: