This fashion season, window shoppers peering into Topshop's flagship Oxford Street store – one of the world's biggest fashion stores – will be "wowed" by something other than the usual fabulously fashionable mannequins. That's because the trendsetting UK retailer has teamed up with PETA once more for a display that makes a fashion statement of another sort: exotic skins are cruel!
The dynamic window display depicts a fun jungle scene with cuddly exotic creatures hanging from trees with the bold statement "Exotic skins make our blood run cold – Join Topshop in saying 'No' to cruelty".
In addition to hosting this eye-catching window display, Topshop will have a factsheet in the store so that customers can take away information about the unimaginable way in which beautiful animals are stolen from their jungle homes to be turned into fashion "accessories".
Why is Topshop proud to be free of exotic skins? Every year, millions of snakes, lizards, alligators and crocodiles are killed for heartless fashions. Although alligators may naturally live up to 60 years, alligators on farms are usually butchered before their fourth birthday. They are often beaten with hammers and sometimes take up to two hours to die.
Documentary footage shows that snakes are often skinned alive because dealers believe this practice makes their skin more supple. Larger animals like pythons have hoses inserted into their mouths and are given large quantities of water in order to loosen their skin and thus make flaying easier. Their peeled, writhing bodies are then discarded, and it can take days before they eventually die from shock and dehydration..
It takes at least four lizards to make just one pair of boots, and skinning the lizards alive is preferred because of the belief that it imparts elasticity, or "give". A nail through the head holds the animals; they are then stretched out and have a knife cut into each side of their bodies to rip off the skin.
This is the third time Topshop has teamed up with PETA to make a bold statement against cruelty to animals. In the past, Topshop has had window displays to educate consumers about the cruelty behind fur. (Click here to see last year's window display.)
What You Can Do:
Take the pledge never to buy exotic skins by signing the petition below.
