Gap To Stop Selling Indian Leather
For Immediate Release:
April 18, 2000
Contact:
Lisa Lange 757-622-7382
San Francisco — Following international protests, Gap Inc., the nation’s second largest clothing retailer, has agreed to stop using leather from animals killed in India, where the animals are considered sacred but are cruelly slaughtered in an illegal black market. The company’s decision comes after two months of actions in which PETA members, led by Chrissie Hynde of The Pretenders, protested outside Gap stores and even took over the display window at their New York flagship store, resulting in Hynde’s arrest. The ban covers all Gap stores worldwide and extends to its subsidiaries, Old Navy and Banana Republic.
On Tuesday afternoon, PETA members will return to the Gap store, but instead of waving “Shed Your Skin” signs, they’ll deliver flowers:
Date: Tuesday, April 18
Time: 12 noon
Place: 890 Market Street (at Market and Powell)
At the center of the campaign was a PETA video exposé, narrated by Pamela Anderson Lee, that documents multiple violations of the Constitution of India, which contains the world’s toughest cow-protection laws. Because it is illegal to kill cows in India, corrupt skin-traders use bribes to smuggle the animals across state borders at night. The cows and calves, who collapse while being marched for days to slaughter, have their eyes smeared with chili peppers and their tails broken in an effort to keep them moving. Gap has also agreed to stop selling leather from China, where conditions for the animals are as bad as those in India.
“I’m hoping the Gap’s next ad will be ‘Everybody Out of Leather,’ but this is a great step,” says Hynde. PETA is now eyeing Florsheim Shoes, Hush Puppies, Casual Corner, Nordstroms, and other outlets that use Indian and Chinese leather. PETA will announce the next target of its anti-leather campaign in May.
Color photos of PETA’s investigation as well as of Chrissie Hynde protesting a Gap store in Washington, D.C., can be obtained at the following FTP site: ftp://63.89.54.155/.
For more information, visit PETA’s Web site at www.CowsAreCool.com.