PETA to Protest Hermès Flagship in Heels and Hazmat Suits

For Immediate Release:
May 4, 2021

Contact:
Megan Wiltsie 202-483-7382

“Prevent Pandemics: Ban Exotic Skins.” That’s the message PETA supporters in stilettos, hazmat suits, and gas masks will send at Hermès’ Madison Avenue boutique tomorrow—all while carrying protest signs shaped like Kelly bags. The protest follows the designer’s decision to dig in its heels at the annual meeting today by refusing to answer PETA’s question about an exotic-skins ban.

When:    Wednesday, May 5, 12 noon

Where:    691 Madison Ave., New York

PETA—an Hermès shareholder—tried to confront executives over plans to build what would be Australia’s largest crocodile factory farm, noting that cruel and filthy conditions involving wildlife gave rise to COVID-19. Past PETA exposés have revealed that alligators and crocodiles are confined to dank pools and crowded concrete pits before workers cut into their spines while they’re still alive and peel off their skin. PETA’s full shareholder question is available here.

“Savvy, eco-minded customers know what they want, and that’s mock croc and fake snake, not the skin of someone who was tortured,” says PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman. “PETA urges Hermès to embrace innovative, fashion-forward materials as other designers are—because a killer look doesn’t need to kill animals.”

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 or follow the group on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram.