Urge LVMH to Shed Fur and Wildlife Skins From Louis Vuitton and Other Brands

No matter what “standards” a company touts or where the products are made, suffering is rampant in the wildlife-skins trade, and it’s nearly impossible to trace the origin of leather to find out who was killed for it. Take action today for crocodiles, snakes, and other animals killed for their skin.

A disturbing, first-of-its-kind PETA Asia investigation reveals exactly how pythons are being killed for LVMH’s snakeskin bags and shoes. Investigators visited two Indonesian abattoirs that supply LVMH – which owns Louis Vuitton, Dior, Celine, and other fashion brands – and documented workers bashing snakes in the head with hammers, pumping them full of water, and skinning them – likely while they were still conscious.

A previous PETA Asia investigation showed snakes held captive in dirty wire cages and then violently killed by being pumped full of air.

The investigator also obtained footage showing piles of crocodiles with their mouths tied shut and then wrapped in bags so they couldn’t move. A worker walked on top of them and crudely electroshocked them with what appeared to be a car battery. However, reptiles don’t respond to electric stunning in the same way as other animals, and there’s no good evidence to show that it renders them unconscious before workers attempt to kill them.

Another PETA Asia investigation into crocodile farms in Vietnam that supplied skins to Louis Vuitton’s parent company, LVMH, showed thousands of reptiles lying motionless in cramped concrete pits, some narrower than the length of their own bodies.

But it’s not just reptiles who suffer. PETA US obtained footage of ostriches – whose skin is used for bumpy-textured purses sold by Louis Vuitton – showing that they’re kept in barren dirt feedlots for about a year before being sent for slaughter. In the abattoir, they’re forcibly restrained, electrically stunned, and flipped upside down, then their throats are slit in full view of their terrified flockmates.

LVMH is also still selling garments made with fur – even though the fur trade slaughters millions of animals, including foxes, coyotes, and minks, in gruesome ways each year. These animals typically spend their lives in cramped wire cages on fur farms before finally being killed by gassing, electrocution, or other ghastly methods.

Take Action Now

Every accessory made out of wildlife skins or fur and sold by Louis Vuitton represents the hideously gruesome death of a sensitive animal who just wanted to be left in peace. Please join PETA in calling on LVMH to drop wildlife skins and fur from Louis Vuitton and all its other brands. 

Email Louis Vuitton

You can get in contact with the Louis Vuitton Senior Vice President, Carole Bildé, by clicking here. Feel free to write your own email (please be polite), or you can copy PETA’s template below: 

Dear Ms Bildé

I just watched PETA’s exposé of python abattoirs that supply LVMH, which revealed that snakes are bludgeoned with hammers, pumped full of water, and skinned – likely while they’re still alive. This sickening abuse directly contradicts LVMH’s empty claims that “animal welfare … and species conservation are respected” in the manufacture of its products.

Please stop profiting from extreme cruelty to animals and drop wildlife skins and fur.

No matter what “standards” LVMH touts, suffering is rampant in the wildlife-skins trade.

A PETA video exposé of crocodile farms in Vietnam that supplied skins to LVMH showed thousands of reptiles lying motionless in cramped concrete pits, some narrower than the length of their own bodies. PETA Asia’s investigation into the snakeskin trade in Vietnam showed snakes who were painfully inflated to death with compressed air.

I was also shocked to learn that you are still selling garments made with fur as well. Each year, the barbaric fur industry kills millions of foxes, coyotes, and other animals. They either spend their lives in small wire cages on fur farms, or they’re killed by gassing or anal or genital electrocution or are caught in steel traps, where many are left to die slowly of blood loss.

Today, fur is as dead as the miserable animals it was stolen from. Many top designers and retailers, including Chanel, Vivienne Westwood, Calvin Klein, Selfridges Group, and Nordstrom, have announced bans on fur and wildlife skins.

Please make a strong statement against animal abuse and confirm that LVMH’s brands will join them.

Sincerely,

Take Action for Animals

Want to do more for animals abused for their skins? Visit PETA’s Action Centre.

You can also take these rapid actions: