Victory! Marc Jacobs Bans Reptile and Ostrich Skins Following Push From PETA

For Immediate Release:
May 2, 2024

Contact:
Moira Colley 202-483-7382

New York –

Alligator-shaped vegan chocolates are on the way from PETA to Marc Jacobs in thanks for the luxury fashion brand’s kind decision to ban the use of skins from crocodiles, lizards, ostriches, snakes, and other wildlife in its collections. The move comes 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.

a worker strikes a python with a hammer at a slaughterhouse in investigation implicating Kering — *A PETA Asia investigation into two python farms that supply skins to the fashion industry found that workers pin struggling pythons down by the neck and smash them over the head with a hammer.* *Credit: PETA Asia*

“Behind every ostrich- or reptile-skin handbag was an individual who endured a life of misery, pain, and filth before being hacked to bits,” says PETA Director of Corporate Responsibility Laura Shields. “PETA applauds Marc Jacobs’ compassionate decision to cut ties with this cruel industry and urges designers everywhere to follow its lead.”

Multiple 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. Nearly 130,000 PETA supporters have urged LVMH—the parent company of Louis Vuitton—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 the group on X, Facebook, or Instagram.