Stella Mccartney, PETA Launch First-Ever Anti-Leather Campaign Ahead Of London Fashion Week

For Immediate Release:
7 February 2012


Contact:
Elisa Allen 020 7357 9229, ext 243; [email protected]


London – PETA, along with Stella McCartney, will urge fashionistas to shed not only fur but also leather this London Fashion Week with a viral video exposé of the skins trade, hosted by McCartney. “As a designer, I like to work with fabrics that don’t bleed; that’s why I avoid all animal skins”, says McCartney in the video. “Please join me in exploring the huge variety of fashionable shoes, belts, purses and wallets that aren’t the product of a cow’s violent death.”


As reported in the New York Times, the campaign, set to debut in Manhattan cabs, has had a bumpy start. Because style editors and buyers from around the world scurry between runway shows in taxis during Fashion Week, PETA US planned to run a video blitz on taxi video screens, but VeriFone Media, which places the cab ads, refused to allow PETA US to buy airtime, saying that the screens run consumer promotions, not cautions. Undeterred, PETA and its affiliates will launch the video on fashion blogs, via tweets from celebrities, and on the Facebook pages of their million-plus online activists.


In the video, McCartney, who will showcase a one-off collection during London Fashion Week, explains that cows killed for their skin are castrated, branded and dehorned, as well as having their tails cut off, all without painkillers. In abattoirs, the animals’ throats are cut, and many cows are skinned and dismembered while they are still conscious. And the toxic chemicals used to treat the animals’ skin and keep it from rotting harm workers’ health and can pollute nearby water supplies and soil, leading to increased rates of cancer among nearby residents. As designers and the celebrities they dress learn about the cruelty inherent in the skins trade, a growing number of them – including Marc Bouwer, Natalie Portman, and Joan Jett – are shunning leather, fur and other animal skins and proving that you can create a look that kills without killing animals.