Bernard Arnault and Pharrell Williams Are Cashing In on the Skins of Sensitive Beings
Louis Vuitton asserts that 100% of the animals used for its products are “humanely farmed”, but how can a brand that condemns crocodiles to being skinned alive make such a false claim?
For over a decade, PETA entities have challenged LVMH – parent company of Louis Vuitton, Fendi, Dior, and other brands – to abandon fur and wild-animal skins. While many luxury fashion houses have embraced this compassionate shift, LVMH stubbornly turns a blind eye to the growing demand for ethical fashion.
With a staggering net worth of over US$207 billion, LVMH CEO Bernard Arnault is one of the richest people in the world. His throne sits atop the skinned bodies of countless crocodiles, ostriches, pythons, rabbits, chinchillas, minks, and foxes.
Arnault’s Global Assault on Animals Is Worse Than You Can Probably Imagine
A PETA Asia investigation into crocodile farms in Vietnam that supply skins to LVMH revealed crocodiles packed into concrete enclosures, some narrower than the length of their bodies. In another facility, crocodiles were crammed into filthy pits, exposing them to injury, disease, and aggression from others. One crocodile was even missing their tail. An investigator was told that the animals are kept in these conditions for over a year, and workers were seen cutting into animals’ necks and ramming rods down their spines during slaughter. Footage captured one crocodile still moving after having been skinned alive.
In a separate PETA Asia investigation into two slaughterhouses in Indonesia supplying LVMH, workers bashed snakes in the head with hammers, suspended them in the air, pumped them full of water, and cut off their skin. Because of their unique physiology, the pythons were likely conscious throughout the ordeal of being flayed and disembowelled.
When PETA US investigators went inside the world’s largest ostrich slaughterhouses – which supply Louis Vuitton – they witnessed workers striking birds in the face, forcing them into stun boxes, and slitting their throats in full view of other terrified animals. Workers laughed as a distressed bird stumbled over a collapsed flockmate. One worker even chuckled while describing how the trusting birds walk willingly into the slaughter facility with them. Inside, the birds watched helplessly as the throats of their panicked companions were slit.
PETA US has provided LVMH with investigative video footage exposing the horrific cruelty involved in the wild -animal– skins trade, yet the company remains unmoved.
Is Pharrell for Real?
In June, two PETA supporters interrupted a Paris Olympics kick-off party to call out host and Louis Vuitton Men’s Creative Director Pharrell Williams for the disgraceful use of wild-animal skins and fur in his collections. They held signs reading, “Pharrell: Stop Killing Animals for Fashion”. The action is part of PETA’s campaign urging LVMH, a sponsor of the 2024 Olympic Games, to ban fur and wild-animal skins.
Following reports that Williams’ collection for Louis Vuitton includes a US$1 million made-to-order crocodile-skin bag, PETA US invited him to join them on a tour of the filthy pits. “We’d like to invite you on a less-than-luxurious tour of a filthy … crocodile factory farm with us to see the living origins of your ‘Millionaire’ bag,” they wrote. “You’d want to bring along nose plugs and high boots to wade through fetid, waste-filled water. If we go to an indoor tank, also bring a flashlight, because you won’t see daylight.”
At the Toronto International Film Festival, Williams debuted his LEGO-animated biopic, Piece by Piece. The name of the film serves as an ironic metaphor for Louis Vuitton’s role in the gruesome dismemberment of sentient beings, yet the irony is lost on Williams. During a confrontation with a PETA US protester at a post-screening speaking panel, he adopted a holier-than-thou demeaneour while feigning openness to suggestions. So where’s the change? No conscientious, reasonable person would continue to profit from the horrific slaughter of animals in the name of vanity.
In a letter to Williams, PETA US challenged his claim that his team is “working on” removing animal skins and fur from his designs, responding that it doesn’t take “work” to decide to stop torturing animals for profit.
Change Is Long Overdue
While other designer brands, like Burberry, Calvin Klein, Chanel, Tommy Hilfiger , and Vivienne Westwood, have shed wild-animal skins from their lines – and hundreds of major designers, including Dolce & Gabbana, Gucci, Michael Kors, Valentino, and Versace, have dropped fur – LVMH refuses to evolve. Some 70 fashion and cosmetics brands under the LVMH umbrella, including Fendi, Christian Dior, Celine, and Sephora, perpetuate egregious cruelty to animals.
No matter how Louis Vuitton tries to spin it, there’s no “humane” way to kill animals for clothing – especially when the brand doesn’t even bother to require the bare minimum welfare standards from its suppliers.
All animals – whether they have feathers, scales, or fur – deserve respect and consideration. Ostriches, crocodiles, foxes, and minks are living, feeling beings, not handbags, watch straps, or shoes.
