After actress and handbag namesake Jane Birkin requested that her name be disassociated with the status symbol last July, luxury fashion house Hermès has taken serious and swift actions to get to the bottom of her concerns and dissuade her from pursuing her request.
“We agree that the best international rules should be applied in our crocodile farms,” Hermès Chief Executive Officer Axel Dumas said at an earnings presentation in Paris.
The company has launched an investigation when the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) released a video of a farm in Texas inhumanely slaughtering crocodiles whose skin were presumed to be used for the brand’s sought-after Birkin crocodile bags. Hermès has clarified that they do not own the farm and according to Bloomberg, the “company has pledged to penalize any breach of its animal welfare code.”
Last July, they released a statement addressing Ms. Birkin’s request:
Jane Birkin has expressed her concerns regarding practices for slaughtering crocodiles. Her comments do not in any way influence the friendship and confidence that we have shared for many years. Hermès respects and shares her emotions and was also shocked by the images recently broadcast.
An investigation is underway at the Texas farm which was implicated in the video. Any breach of rules will be rectified and sanctioned. Hermès specifies that this farm does not belong to them and that the crocodile skins supplied are not used for the fabrication of Birkin bags.
Hermès imposes on its partners the highest standards in the ethical treatment of crocodiles. For more than 10 years, we have organized monthly visits to our suppliers. We control their practices and their conformity with slaughter standards established by veterinary experts and by the Fish and Wildlife (a federal American organization for the protection of nature) and with the rules established under the aegis of the U.N.O, by the Washington Convention of 1973 which defines the protection of endangered species.
Photo courtesy of Fashion.Telegraph.co.uk
