Industry Legend, PETA Member Cites Cruelty to Animals in Skins Trade
For Immediate Release:
1 October 2002
Contact:
Anuradha Sawhney (O) 98201 22602,
Mumbai — Famed fashion designer Hemant Trevedi has announced that he stopped designing with leather earlier this year for ethical reasons and that he has decided to take his commitment to helping the animals of India one step further: Trevedi – a vegetarian – has stepped down after serving for many years as director and choreographer of the fashion show at Chennai’s annual International Leather Fair because cruel and illegal transport and slaughter of cows, buffaloes, goats and other animals killed for their skins remains rampant throughout the country. Trevedi currently serves as fashion director at Sheetal, India’s leading fashion store, as well as design professor at SNDT University in Mumbai.
‘Sorry. I’m a member of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA)’, said Trevedi, who has launched the careers of hundreds of models and turned many into superstars. ‘I won’t be doing the show anymore, and I’m now using cruelty-free synthetic materials instead of leather. No one has the right to use a fashion show as a public platform to air one’s grievances or to justify the so-called “progress” of the Indian leather industry, especially when there is a cause that is so much greater and needs to be brought to the notice of the public.’
What got Trevedi into such a lather over leather? Buffaloes and other animals suffer in transport and at abattoirs before being made into leather coats, pants and shoes. Many animals suffer wounds and broken bones from extreme overcrowding in lorries. Some suffocate. Others are made to walk to their deaths. Those who collapse have their eyes smeared with chilli peppers and their tails broken in order to keep them moving. At abattoirs, the animals have their throats hacked at with dull knives in full view of each other and are skinned – often while still alive.
Some of the biggest retailers in the world – including Adidas-Salomon, Reebok, Nike, Clarks, Eddie Bauer, Timberland, Gucci, Gap Inc., Florsheim, Liz Claiborne and many other companies – are boycotting leather sourced from Indian animals, at least until tangible steps are taken to decrease their suffering.
