Awake Watches to Go Leather-Free

Eco-Oriented Company Confirms It Will Replace Cow-Skin Straps With Creative Vegan Options After PETA Appeal

For Immediate Release:
March 9, 2020

Contact:
Moira Colley 202-483-7382

Following communications with PETA, Awake Watches has pledged to replace all leather watchstraps with vegan ones—a step that will make the brand 100% animal-free, spare cows the cruelty of the leather industry, and help save the planet.

“Awake Watches did the right thing in calling time on the use of harmful leather,” says PETA Senior Director of Corporate Affairs Anne Brainard. “Compassionate consumers are choosing PETA-approved vegan leather made from recycled plastic, pineapple, fruit pulp, coffee grounds, and other high-quality, durable materials.”

A PETA video exposé of Brazil’s JBS S.A.—the world’s largest leather processor—revealed that cows and bulls were branded on the face, electroshocked, and beaten before being killed for meat and leather. After a lifetime of intense confinement, cows are typically transported to slaughterhouses, where their throats are slit and some are even skinned and dismembered while they’re still conscious.

Animal agriculture—which includes the leather industry—is responsible for nearly a fifth of human-induced greenhouse-gas emissions and is devastating the planet on a global scale. More than 80% of the Amazon rainforest that’s been cleared since 1970 is used for grazing or for growing food for cattle who are slaughtered for meat and leather. Recent reports found that in three environmental-impact categories—water scarcity, climate change, and overall environmental well-being—cow leather has almost triple the negative environmental impact of polyurethane leather.

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to wear”—opposes speciesism, which is a human-supremacist worldview. For more information, please visit PETA.org.