The pressure is on and, considering protests at fashion weeks and the crashing of runway shows of brands using leather, exotic skin and fur, it’s very real. When it comes to animal rights in the beauty and fashion world, the debate on whether or not to include exotic skin, fur and feathers in collections is taking centre stage once again. Following in the footsteps of Copenhagen Fashion Week’s banning of exotic skins and feathers in their show collections (they had banned fur in 2022 already), London Fashion Week (LFW) has just announced that they’ll be doing the same.
David Leigh-Pemberton, Deputy Director of Policy and Engagement at the British Fashion Council (BFC) announced the ban in a speech to parliament last week. This serves as an extension of their ban on fur use, which was implemented last year. Apparently, thousands of Peta supporters contacted the BFC, calling for this progressive move. Yvonne Taylor, Peta VP of corporate projects says: “We salute the compassionate British designers who helped usher in this policy.”
While LFW designers don’t usually use exotic skins in their collections, the decision to ban it from collections going forward it still a significant step in the global fashion world. In fact, this makes London Fashion Week the first of the ‘big four’ to do so.
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Seen as a superior and luxury item, the use of exotic skins has opened up many debates in fashion. Still, Chanel was one of the firsts to ban exotic skins in 2018 already. In 2024, Marc Jacobs was one of the most recent brands to implement the ban. At the same time, while they have bans on fur, Kering and Prada both still use exotic skins, and brands like Hermés and LVMH have no bans on either fur or exotic skins.
On the other hand, some sustainability advocates say snakeskin products can be good for the environment, especially if it is an invasive species. In fact, just recently, Gabriela Hearst introduced python leather in her Spring/Summer 2025 collection. It was sourced from a Florida-based materials company, Inversa. According to Vogue Business, the Italian sneaker brand, P448 also uses Burmese python skin in their sneakers.
What is your take on the use of exotic skin, fur and feathers in fashion? Raise your opinion by commenting below, or share the article on social media and take part in the conversation…
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