‘Dog Leather’ Pop-Up to Shock Shoppers as PETA Hounds Coach Over Skin Sales

Contact:
Hannah Nelson 202-483-7382

“If you wouldn’t wear a dog, why wear a cow?” That’s the question PETA supporters will put to Black Friday crowds outside of the Coach store on S. Miami Avenue, where they’ll set up a “dog leather” stall peddling everything from “Jack Russell jackets” to “Beagle belts and bags.” The provocative Free the Animals Friday display will point out that canines and cows are the same in all the ways that count—and call out Coach’s continued sales of animal- and planet-killing leather.

PETA notes that while no Schnauzers were slaughtered for its display, an estimated 2 million cats and dogs are killed in China every year for their skins, which are deliberately mislabeled and sold to unsuspecting consumers overseas—meaning that leather-wearers might already be wearing Fido without even knowing it.

“Cows love their families and value their own lives every bit as much as the dogs we share our homes with, and neither deserve to be hacked apart for a handbag,” says PETA President Tracy Reiman. “PETA is calling on Coach and holiday shoppers everywhere to embrace luxurious vegan materials that no one was killed for.”

Where:           Coach, 701 S Miami Ave., Suite 171C, Miami

When:             Friday, November 28, 12 noon

Why:               PETA notes that just like dogs, cows and bulls love to play and can often be seen at sanctuaries romping and jumping, playing with balls, and getting the “zoomies.” A PETA exposé of the world’s largest leather processor—which has supplied Coach—showed that workers brand calves on the face, beat cows and bulls, and shock them with electric prods.

While many top designers are now meeting the demand for eco-friendly fashion with sustainable vegan leather, Coach remains an outlier—and the company’s rampant use of animal skins is environmentally disastrous: A recent investigation linked Coach’s leather supply chain to illegal deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon, and turning skin into leather requires significant energy and dangerous chemicals that have polluted waterways.

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.