Victoria Beckham Receives Leather ‘Bloodbath’ Video Appeal From PETA U.K.

For Immediate Release:
March 5, 2024

Contact:
Moira Colley 202-483-7382

Days after disrupting Victoria Beckham’s Paris Fashion Week show, PETA U.K. is calling on the mother of four to consider how calves are stolen from their loving mothers to be slaughtered for their skin and to ban leather from her namesake brand with the release of a powerful new video.

“Much of the skin used for ‘luxury’ fashion comes from calves who were torn away from their mothers just hours after they were born,” PETA U.K. Vice President of Corporate Projects Yvonne Taylor writes in a letter to Beckham. “As you know, a mother’s instinct to protect her babies is intense. Just like us, cows share a strong, loving bond with their young, and no handbag or jacket can justify the trauma of separation they endure or the horror of the slaughterhouse.”

At slaughterhouses, cows killed for leather may be skinned and dismembered while they’re still conscious—after they endure castration, tail-docking, and dehorning, without any painkillers, on farms. Female cows are repeatedly impregnated, and their terrified babies are torn away from them shortly after birth for calf leather.

In addition to the horrific cruelty it inflicts on animals, the leather industry also contributes to the climate catastrophe, land devastation, pollution, and water contamination. Sustainable vegan leather made from apples, cork, corn, grapes, mushrooms, paper, pineapples, soy, or tea mimics the properties of leather without the cruelty to animals or environmental devastation. PETA U.K. sent samples of animal-friendly leathers to Beckham to consider for future collections.

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