Animal rights group PETA recently bought shares in French luxury group Louis Vuitton Moet Hennessy (LVMH) to pressure the brand to stop using exotic animal skins in the making of their bags and other products.
PETA’s stake in the group has given them the right to attend shareholder meetings and question the board in the presence of other shareholders.
PETA’s move comes from their investigations into crocodile farms, which have supplied skins to a tannery owned by LVMH.
“In the wake of an exposé revealing that reptiles on crocodile farms in Vietnam – including two that have supplied skins to a tannery owned by Louis Vuitton’s parent company, LVMH – are confined to tiny pits and sometimes hacked into while they’re still alive and thrashing, PETA has become a shareholder of LVMH on the Euronext Paris to put pressure on the company to stop selling exotic skins merchandise,” PETA said.
Despite this fact, LVMH’s director of environment, Sylvie Bernard, denied the fact that their tannery, Heng Long, bought any crocodile skins from Vietnamese farms since 2014.
“We have no knowledge of a partner that would practice the method you referred to… any cruel method involving the suffering of the animal is in clear contradiction with our principles and rules,” she said.
LVMH is the largest luxury group in the world, owning brands such as Louis Vuitton, Christian Dior, Hennessy cognac, many Champagne brands, Fendi and Marc Jacobs.
PETA has bought stakes in other luxury brands as well, including Prada.
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