PETA Statement re Pharrell Williams’ Use of Fur in Louis Vuitton Collection

For Immediate Release:
June 21, 2023

Contact:
Moira Colley 202-483-7382

Below, please see a statement from PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman in response to Pharrell Williams’ reported use of fur in his new collection with Louis Vuitton:

Instead of being the creative innovator Louis Vuitton desperately needs to stay relevant, Pharrell Williams debuted a collection that belongs in a history museum. Tormenting and killing animals to wear bits of their body parts alienates today’s socially conscious consumers, who are driving the demand for luxurious vegan materials that leave animals in peace. If mutilating animals makes Williams happy, PETA hopes his stint at Louis Vuitton will be as short-lived as the animals who suffer for his awful fashion sense.

In a letter that PETA sent to Williams, the group urged him to ban fur and reptile skins and shared an investigation by PETA Asia revealing rampant animal abuse at facilities that supply Louis Vuitton’s parent company LVMH, including that workers cut crocodiles’ necks open and ram metal rods down their spines while they’re still alive. Chanel, Stella McCartney, and Burberry have stopped using fur and exotic skins, and California has even banned their sale because the industries that produce them are so cruel. LVMH is one of the last remaining fashion companies that still uses antiquated fur and exotic skins.

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to wear”—opposes speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview. For more information, please visit PETA.org, listen to The PETA Podcast, or follow the group on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram.