Tommy Hilfiger and Calvin Klein Owner Announces Exotic Skins Ban

Posted on by PETA

Fashion retail giant PVH Corp.—the parent company of Tommy Hilfiger, Calvin Klein, and others—announced that it would ban exotic-animal skins across all its brands! This win will prevent countless snakes, crocodiles, ostriches, and other animals from being warehoused and killed in the fashion industry for their skin.

This is a hisstoric victory for animals!

Every crocodile-skin or snakeskin purse, belt, or shoe is made from skinning someone who didn’t want to die a violent, bloody, and painful death. PETA has documented and exposed that in the exotic-skins industry, crocodiles’ necks are hacked open and metal rods are shoved into their heads; snakes are pumped full of water to loosen their skin, which is then peeled off, often while they’re still conscious; and feathers are yanked out of ostriches while they’re still alive.

Animals raised for their skin are kept in squalid, severely crowded conditions on farms, which create a major breeding ground for a wide of range of zoonotic pathogens like salmonella, E. coli, and even coronavirus. PVH’s sensible decision not only will spare countless vulnerable animals suffering and encourage consumers to shop high-quality vegan materials but also has the potential to help stop the next pandemic before it starts.

This isn’t the first victory for animals when it comes to the company. In 1994 Calvin Klein became the first major fashion designer to stop selling fur after PETA U.S. supporters occupied its office in New York, in 2013 PVH pulled all items made of angora off its shelves in response to PETA’s investigation into angora rabbit farms in China, and in 2019 PVH made the compassionate decision to remove all mohair items from its stores by 2020. And now it joins the ranks of Brooks Brothers, Jil Sander, Chanel, Diane von Furstenberg, HUGO BOSS, Victoria Beckham, Vivienne Westwood, and many others in banning exotic skins.