DIY: Dismember It Yourself! PETA Exposes Hermès’ Cruelty to Crocs in Satirical Birkin Bag Tutorial

For Immediate Release:
May 12, 2025

Contact:
Allyson Spellman 202-483-7382

Anyone hoping to get their hands on a Hermès Birkin bag is now in luck, thanks to … PETA? In a jaw-dropping new video that’s generating buzz online, a fashion vlogger teaches her audience how to make the “luxury” accessory from scratch—starting with a live, three-year-old crocodile.

Directed by music video legend Dave Meyers—who’s worked with Ariana Grande, Kendrick Lamar, and Harry Styles—the video shows the content creator assembling all the tools needed for the job: some glue, a ruler, a tarp for the floor, a knife, and a screwdriver, before getting to work. “You’re going to grab your long screwdriver, and it takes a bit of strength, but just plunge it into the brain and shove it down the spine,” the vlogger says, as blood splatters everywhere. “We’re going to peel this bad boy like a banana. It’s going to look so classy!”

The video created in collaboration with The Community ad agency has accrued hundreds of thousands of views and support from influencers and celebrities who agree with the message, including Nikki Glaser and Crystal Hefner.

“No one would want to be caught dead with a Birkin if they had to make one themselves by hacking apart a thinking, feeling being,” says PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman. “PETA urges fashion lovers everywhere to bag the skins and stick to luxurious vegan accessories that no one had to be butchered for.”

In nature, baby alligators “chirp” from inside their eggs to signal their mother that it’s time to hatch, while crocodiles form strong social bonds and can live to 80 years old. PETA’s undercover investigation into farms that supplied reptile skins to Hermès-owned tanneries revealed crocodiles crammed into filthy concrete pits and alligators packed into fetid pools, where they languished for months before being violently slaughtered. Workers were documented cutting into young alligators’ necks—while they were still conscious—and ramming metal rods down their spines or into their brains to kill them.

A growing number of top designers—including Chanel, Stella McCartney, Victoria Beckham, Burberry, HUGO BOSS, and Vivienne Westwood—have banned the skins of tormented wildlife from their collections. PETA is calling on Hermès to follow suit.

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to wear”—points out that Every Animal Is Someone and offers free Empathy Kitsfor people who need a lesson in kindness. For more information, please visit PETA.org or follow PETA on X, Facebook, or Instagram.