Men’s Fashion Week Video Item: Male Model Launches Campaign Against Ostrich Skin

For Immediate Release:
July 8, 2016

Contact:
David Perle 202-483-7382

As Men’s Fashion Week opens next week in New York, PETA is launching a provocative video campaign with a male model exposing the cruelty behind ostrich skin—which is used by designers like Michael Kors, whose show is on Tuesday, July 12.

Since about 85 percent of ostrich skin comes from South Africa, PETA recruited New York–based South African model David Miller to narrate a four-minute video revealing that the pockmarks unique to ostrich-skin bags and accessories are the result of violently plucking ostriches’ feathers. PETA’s investigative video, which also shows the large, intelligent birds being flipped in stun machines and their throats being slit, can be viewed here.

Miller, who has appeared in ad campaigns for Ralph Lauren, Valentino, and Tommy Hilfiger, says, “It’s a myth that ostriches bury their heads in the sand. But as consumers, we often do.” Miller’s video follows PETA’s European launch of its ostrich campaign targeting Prada and Hermès.

Just last month, David Beckham, Jennifer Lopez, and Rachel Zoe enacted a policy against the use of ostrich skin in their collections, as has Juicy Couture. Barney’s New York and Neiman Marcus continue to sell it.

For more information, please visit PETA.org.