Brooks Brothers will no longer sell products made from exotic animal skins such as crocodile, ostrich and lizard.
In thanks, PETA, the animal rights group, sent the company a box of vegan crocodile-shaped chocolates.
“Behind every crocodile- or snakeskin item is an animal who experienced a violent, bloody death,” claimed Tracy Reiman, PETA’s executive vice president. “PETA thanks Brooks Brothers for protecting these vulnerable animals.”
In 2018, Brooks Brothers stopped purchasing mohair in response to PETA’s investigation of angora goat farms in South Africa. It now joins Jil Sander, Chanel, Diane von Furstenberg, Hugo Boss, Victoria Beckham, Vivienne Westwood and other fashion brands that have banned exotic skins.
Only a fraction of the brand’s business was in exotic skins, according to a spokesperson, and it includes shoes, bags and small leather goods. The retailer stopped designing and ordering skins around a year ago and is selling through the last of that remaining inventory.
Category: Luxury
GUCCI’S GREEN PASTURES: Gucci is spotlighting its support for the protection of wildlife animal species and their natural habitats with its pre-fall 2020 ad campaign.
In February, the Italian luxury brand joined the The Lion’s Share Fund, a non-for-profit organization that raises money to protect endangered species by partnering with global brands and advertisers using animals in their ad campaigns. Gucci has pledged to donate 0.5 percent of its paid media spend to the organization every time an animal appears in one of its advertisements.
In its latest ad campaign lensed by Gucci’s longtime collaborator Alasdair McLellan under the creative direction of Alessandro Michele, deer, fawns, owls, blue birds, skunks, squirrels, frogs, hedgehogs, ducks and rabbits flank the models enjoying their time under the sun in a playground with swings and slides and flanked by a waterway.
In keeping with the sense of free-spirited eclecticism that has become deeply connected with Gucci’s image in the Michele era, the images candidly portray a range of characters hula hooping or playing the flute and reconnecting with the natural environment. The Florentine house described the campaign as an “ode to retrieved innocence, a return to the infant world,” the same theme Michele developed for the men’s
Oh, by the way, Boobie is a dog.
Whether the designer fashions Boobie dons are real or Photoshopped, dogwear is, in fact, a real and fast-growing market. In recent years, designers such as Thom Browne and Donatella Versace have expanded into the category, often photographing their respective pups Hector and Audrey in promotional marketing material.
@hectorbrowne inside the Thom Browne showroom.
Courtesy Photo
Dogs are no stranger to the fashion week circuit, either, recently appearing on the Baja East and Lela Rose runway shows, and in Monse’s pre-fall 2019 lookbook, where designers Laura Kim and Fernando Garcia introduced dog sweaters and accessories with preppy chic undertones.
Donatella Versace’s dog Audrey wearing the Crete de Fleur motif hooded shirt.
Courtesy Photo
In the past two years, retailers such as Ssense, Browns and The Webster have taken note of the rise in designer dog apparel and accessories, launching dedicated pet