Major fashion designer Chanel has announced it will stop using exotic animal skins.
These include fur, crocodile, lizard, snake, and stingray. While some products still exist in Chanel creations, they will no longer be used in upcoming collections.
According to Bruno Pavlovsky, President of Chanel fashion and Chanel SAS, it has become increasingly difficult to source skins that met the company’s standards in terms of ethics and quality, and the brand will turn its R&D towards fabrics created by ‘agri-food industries’.
He added: “We did it because it’s in the air, but it’s not an air people imposed to us. It’s a free choice.”
Vegan celebration
The news was met with celebration by vegan campaigners, including those at animal rights charity PETA.
“The champagne corks are popping at PETA, thanks to Chanel’s announcement that it’s kicking fur and exotic skins – including crocodile, lizard, and snake skin – to the kerb,” PETA Director of International Programmes, Mimi Bekhechi, said in a statement sent to Plant Based News.
“For decades, PETA and its affiliates have called on the brand to opt for luxury, cruelty-free fashion that no animal had to suffer and die for, and now it’s time for other companies, like Louis Vuitton, to follow the lead of the iconic double ‘C’s and do the same.”