Fashion Giant Calls Abuse of Animals ‘Deplorable and Inhumane’
For Immediate Release:
6 December, 2001
Contact:
Jason Baker (0) 98201 22602, JasonB@peta.org
Mumbai — In a recent letter to PETA, the Italian-based Gucci Group denounced reports that it plans to establish a leather unit in India as unfounded—dashing the Indian leather industry’s hopes that Gucci would set up shop on the subcontinent and that other Italian firms would follow suit. Gucci also announced that, based on information from PETA, it will boycott leather from India until the government there takes steps to enforce basic animal protection laws. Gucci joins Esprit and TJX, who announced two weeks ago that they were joining a host of retailers and manufacturers, including Gap Inc., Reebok, Nike, Esprit, J. Crew, Liz Claiborne, Nordstrom, Timberland, Florsheim and others, that have sworn off Indian skins after learning about the abysmal treatment of animals killed for leather, documented by PETA.
With about 180 company-owned boutiques and franchised stores all over the world, Gucci is known for its handbags, shoes, watches and ready-to-wear clothing, and about 30 per cent of its sales are from leather items. In his response to PETA’s letter detailing the animal abuse subsidized by India’s leather industry, Gucci CEO Domenico De Sole acknowledges that Indian leather was a component in a line of shoes and states, ‘Your letter made a great impression on me. … We have moved immediately to halt use of this material.’ He adds, ‘Please rest assured that Gucci … will avoid any future contact with the Indian leather industry until the abuses described in your letter are completely eliminated.’ The Press Trust of India (PTI) estimates that PETA’s campaign has cost Indian leather producers $40 million in cancelled contracts.
PETA first documented the abuse in 1999. Although India has strict humane laws regulating the slaughter of animals, buffaloes, cows, goats and other animals are marched for days and crammed into overcrowded trucks, causing suffocation and broken bones. Those who collapse from exhaustion or injury have their tails broken or their eyes smeared with chilli peppers and tobacco to keep them moving. At most slaughterhouses, workers hack at animals’ throats with dull blades and skin them—often while they’re still alive—in full view of other animals. There are 32,000 illegal, unlicensed slaughterhouses in India, many of which are supported by the Indian leather industry through its skin purchases.
‘Gucci joins a growing list of designers and retailers that refuse to support unlawful animal abuse,’ says PETA India Representative Jason Baker. ‘If India’s leather manufacturers want to save their own hides, they’ll pressure the government to take real steps to improve the plight of the animals whose deaths they profit from.’
For a complete list of retailers and manufacturers who have pledged not to purchase leather from India and for photographs and video footage of abuses in transport and slaughter, please contact PETA India or look on our Web site at www.PETAIndia.com. Following is a copy of Gucci’s letter to PETA.
