PETA’s Gift for Harry and Meghan’s Leather Anniversary? Leather-Free Trainers
PETA’s Gift for Harry and Meghan’s Leather Anniversary? Leather-Free Trainers
London – Today, two matching pairs of vegan Stan Smith trainers from Adidas are en route from PETA to the Duke and Duchess of Sussex for their third wedding anniversary (19 May) – traditionally known as the “leather” anniversary. In addition to helping the power couple hit the ground running with their new endeavours, the gift offers an animal-friendly alternative to Meghan’s go-to casual shoes – and puts a modern spin on the dated gifting of leather items to mark a couple’s third year of marriage.
“We know how much you care about animals and the environment – unlike the leather industry, which kills over one billion animals every year and whose end product is ranked the most polluting material in fashion,” writes PETA founder Ingrid Newkirk in an accompanying letter to the Sussexes. “We therefore sought to mark your special day in a modern, eco-conscious, and animal-friendly way …. We hope you love the gift and that the shoes will inspire you to continue to embrace vegan fashion.”
PETA US video exposé of the world’s largest leather producer revealed that gentle cows and bulls were branded on the face, electroshocked, and beaten before being killed for their skin. Turning animal skins into leather requires the use of 130 different chemicals – including cyanide – and leather production produces massive amounts of the carbon emissions that contribute to climate change. The World Bank has reported that cattle ranching is responsible for over 80% of deforestation in the Amazon since 1970.
The shoes, a vegan version of the iconic Adidas Stan Smith design, feature a vegan upper and an outsole made with rubber waste. They are also made with Primegreen – a series of high-performance recycled materials – and are free from virgin polyester.
PETA – whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to wear” – opposes speciesism, the human-supremacist view that cows and other animals are nothing more than commodities. For more information, please visit PETA.org.uk or follow the group on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram.
Contact:
Jennifer White +44 (0) 20 7837 6327; [email protected]
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