Gucci, Louis Vuitton leather reptiles are alive to make expensive handbags: PETA

Louis Vuitton and Gucci are selling handbags, belts and wallets made from brutally killed snakes and lizards – some beheaded while trying to flee – according to an explosive new investigation.

Some reptiles have been slashed repeatedly with machetes – with workers cutting their legs off even as the lizards floundered helplessly, according to hidden camera video capturing these operations and shared with The Post .

According to an investigation by the animal rights group People for the Ethics Treatment of Animals PETA.

“Due to their unique physiology, lizards do not die immediately after being decapitated, and their brains can remain awake and fully able to perceive pain for more than 30 minutes,” according to the report. PETA. The videos document two cases in which the heads of lizards continued to move after they were severed from the rest of the body.

PETA spokeswoman Ashley Byrne said the grisly murder photos and videos at an Indonesian facility demonstrate for the first time how the slaughter of these reptiles is used in the modern industry. luxury site.

“We have recorded evidence of cruelty for reptiles in the supply chain for many years,” Byrne told The Post, “but this is the first time we’ve been able to reveal how they were killed. This shot straight out of a horror movie.”

On Monday, PETA sent a letter to the heads of luxury group LVMH – which owns Louis Vuitton – and Kering, which owns Gucci.

LVMH did not specifically respond to the snake-related allegations, but it said in a statement to The Post: “LVMH respects all views and sensitivities regarding the use of animal-based materials and We support and actively participate in industry efforts to achieve best practices possible. Our aim is to provide our customers with a product that is manufactured in the most responsible and ethical manner possible. ”

Kering, that stop using fur in September, was informed in a separate letter from PETA President Ingrid Newkirk to CEO Francois-Henri Pinault that the lizards that live in its supply chain have “legs tied together.” while they were “submerged in a water bath before being placed. on a block of wood and beheaded. ”

“While we take these allegations very seriously, there is no evidence that the Kering brands have a direct or indirect connection with this establishment,” Kering said in a statement. or those activities. Such activities are prohibited under Kering’s animal welfare standards. ”

A Kering spokesman told The Post that the company had opened an internal investigation. “If there is a proven link between this facility and our supply chain, we will terminate the business relationship immediately,” she said. “We are committed to continuously enhancing traceability and animal welfare in our supply chain.”

PETA’s Byrne said both luxury fashion houses used International Leather Works, an Indonesia-based company that buys exotic leathers from farms in the investigation.

This is not the first time PETA has run into trouble with both companies over their supply chains.

In 2016, the advocacy group went to catch crocodiles in Vietnam believed to be part of LVMH’s supply chain and were held for months in “small, dirty concrete vats, some narrower than the length of their bodies,” Newkirk wrote on December 13. letter.

It has also targeted Kering over its use of fur, which the company has since abandoned.

According to Byrne, PETA is planning protests at Gucci and Louis Vuitton stores in Las Vegas starting next week and in New York City soon after – including the large Louis Vuitton store on East Street 57.

The organization is calling on fashion houses to commit to using vegan leather instead of exotic leather, Byrne said, pointing to the companies’ own websites that aim to only use businesses that treat animals humanely. .

In fact, Louis Vuitton unveiled its first vegan leather sneakers made with corn, the company said in November.

Charlie is, as the name suggests, made from Biopolioli, a corn-based material similar to polyurethane but more sustainable.

Gucci also introduced a new pair of leather alternative sneakers in June made from botanicals, wood pulp and viscous called the Demetra.