In a bid to put an end to the fashion industry's use of exotic animal skins, the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (Peta) has bought a stake in French luxury conglomerate LVMH, which owns brands like Louis Vuitton, Dior and Givenchy.
Peta said having a stake in the company will allow the animal rights activists to attend shareholder meetings and "put pressure on the company to stop selling exotic skins merchandise," as reported by the Financial Times.
Previously, the animal rights group had taken stakes in Hermes, which is famous for its Kelly and Birkin bags, and Prada. In 2015, Peta bought a single share in Hermes on the Paris stock exchange to get access to the company's annual shareholders' meeting in Paris. Peta activists publicly confronted Hermes chief executive Axel Dumas in May 2016 over animal cruelty allegations.
Peta's move follows its expose of crocodile farms in Vietnam after it released a video last month showing reptiles being killed for their skin. The organisation, which earlier termed the slaughtering as "inhumane," claimed that two of the farms had supplied skins to Heng Long, a tannery owned by LVMH.
Commenting on the video last month, Sylvie Bernard, LVMH's director of environment, said Heng Long had not bought crocodile skins from any Vietnamese farms since 2014. "We have no knowledge of a partner that would practice the method you referred to . . . any cruel method involving the suffering of the animal is in clear contradiction with our principles and rules," she added.
The FT report stated Peta's purchase of stake illustrates the increasing pressure on luxury companies to show that they are ethically sourcing their raw materials.
"Every Peta exposé of the exotic-skins industry has found sensitive living beings crammed into filthy pits, hacked apart, and left to die," says Ingrid Newkirk, Peta's president. "From demonstrating on the street to speaking up in the boardroom, Peta will push LVMH to stop selling any bag, watchband or shoe made from a reptile's skin."
LVMH was not immediately available for comment to the FT.
