Besides cowhide leather, the fashion industry has also been using exotic animal skins to craft items such as handbags, belts or shoes. Besides the more well-known crocodile and snakeskin, lizards and other reptiles are also farmed and killed for their skin. Though they may have once been a stable material of luxury fashion, there are many reasons why more and more fashion lovers are rethinking these materials. While there are undoubtedly more reasons than just the eight included in this article, let’s summarize those which are most important.
1. Inhumane Treatment of Animals
The first argument to be brought up when it comes to animal products is usually animal welfare, so let’s get started with it. We can often be blind to the cruelty happening in the exotic animal skin production chain since it is happening so far away from us. However, it includes seriously inhumane practices such as the nailing of snakes to trees to be skinned alive or the raising of alligators in crowded tanks with very little space, leading to physical deformities.
2. Damage to Biodiversity
Not only does the use of exotic animal skins mean animals are treated inhumanely, but it is also threatening entire species. Nile crocodile skins are amongst the five most frequently exotic skins to be exported, even though the species has come close to extinction a number of times through history. According to a National Geographic article, the main problem is that exotic animals are often viewed as a commodity, rather than living beings.
3. They Simply Aren’t Needed
Do we actually need exotic animal skins? Besides aesthetics, they are serving no other purpose in our lives. They are just a symbol of luxury above all else—even sustainability and ethics. While it may seem empowering to own a luxurious piece, is this feeling worth the cost?
4. A Wasteful Industry
A lot of material is needed to create a single exotic animal skin piece. For example, one crocodile skin bag needs to be put together using the skin of four crocodiles. The animal’s bodies are also often discarded after skinning, which is very wasteful!
5. Could They Be Responsible for Diseases?
Could the production of exotic animal skins, especially if done illegally, be responsible for another pandemic? This is a question Harper’s Bazaar has raised in a recent article. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, about 75 percent of recently emerging infectious diseases affecting people began as diseases in animals and were transmitted to humans. Animals such as crocodiles are farmed in unsanitary conditions where diseases spread rapidly and can endanger workers, who could then transmit the disease further.
6. They’re Being Banned by Brands
Fewer and fewer brands are supporting the use of exotic animal skins. From February 2020, the luxury department store Selfridges has banned the sale of exotic animal skins in its stores. Chanel has also rejected the material, looking to develop more man-made alternatives. Victoria Beckham is banning exotic animal skins too in an effort to make their supply chains more sustainable and ethical.
7. No Laws to Protect Exotic Animals
There are insufficient laws protecting reptiles from abuse and wherever they do exist, they are not always being observed. For example, in the U.S., reptiles are excluded from the protections set by the Animal Welfare Act. Illegal trade is very common in the exotic animal skins domain and especially worrying since it often involves the export of skins of endangered species.
8. There Are Beautiful Sustainable Alternatives
If all this isn’t enough for you to give up animal skins, you can have the looks of snakeskin or crocodile skins without the ethical or environmental toll. Vegan alternatives to these materials can be created out of PU leather or even some plant-based leather alternatives. Beyond Skin, one of the most talked-about vegan shoe brands, sells a range of different products made from faux exotic skins, including heels, boots and lace-up shoes. The luxury vegan handbag brand Kinds of Grace offers a range of snakeskin as well as crocodile skin designs. With alternatives like this, who needs exotic skins?
By Guest Writer, Lucie Štěpánková
Cover Photo: Image by Gabriel K from Pixabay
