Victory! Jil Sander Bans Exotic Skins After PETA Appeal

Luxury Brand Confirms New Animal-Friendly Policy

For Immediate Release:
November 7, 2019

Contact:
Moira Colley 202-483-7382

After meeting with PETA, luxury fashion brand Jil Sander has confirmed that it has stopped using exotic skins from animals such as alligators, crocodiles, ostriches, lizards, and snakes in its designs.

“Behind every crocodile, alligator, snake, ostrich, or lizard handbag or pair of shoes is a violent death,” says PETA U.K. Director Elisa Allen. “Jil Sander’s decision to ban exotic skins will spare countless remarkable animals immense suffering, and PETA calls on other luxury labels to follow this brand’s kind example.”

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to wear”—and its affiliates have conducted several investigations into the exotic-skins industry. The group found that alligators  are kept in fetid water inside dank, dark sheds before their necks are hacked open and metal rods are shoved into their heads in an attempt to scramble their brains, often while they’re fully conscious. One-year-old ostriches are transported to slaughterhouses, where workers turn them upside down in a “stunner,” slit their throats, and pluck their feathers out. And snakes are commonly nailed to trees before they’re skinned alive.

Sander—which has had an angora-free policy since 2015—joins Chanel, Diane von Furstenberg, Victoria Beckham, and Vivienne Westwood in making the compassionate decision to ban exotic skins from all designs.

For more information on the cruelty inherent in the exotic-skins trade, please visit PETA.org.