Someone get PETA on the horn! French luxury brand, Hermès, maker of such handbag classics as the Birkin and the Kelly, has begun breeding its own crocodiles to keep up with what the label calls "massive over-demand" for handbags. Even in this economic downturn, leather bags continue to be the label's fastest-growing product line. Since it can take three to four crocodiles to make one handbag (WOW), the brand is finding it uber-difficult to make the required 3,000 bags a year. Customers must sometimes be wait-listed for years before snapping up bags made from exotic skins, costing upwards of $48,410 apiece!
Hmmm. As beautiful as these bags are, there is something unseemly about the prospect of farming crocs for the sole purpose of creating luxury goods. Food is one thing, but for fashion? This has made me rethink my love affair with fur! (But you will still need to pry it from my cold, dead hands before I give that up).What say you?
P.S. Want a Hermes bag without the guilt? Check out this fun DIY project on the Hermes corporate Website. Download, cut and paste your own paper Kelly bag! A perfectly chic way to dress up any mantle, desk or vanity.
Source (via Reuters)
