Handbags made of snake's skin

Whilst fur has virtually been wiped off our fashion radar, other types of animal skins have yet to provoke either public outrage or sympathy for the animals from whom they are stripped. Alligator, crocodile, python, cobra and lizard - and even frog, shark and salmon skin - are turned into so-called ‘luxury‘ items.

Python is particularly popular at the moment. According to designers, it is cheaper than crocodile and each skin is large enough to require only a few seams to turn it into a finished garment. Snakeskin shoes and crocodile bags often retail for hundreds of pounds. One wonders just what is so luxurious about skin ripped from the back of a dead animal - particularly one who has been farmed in appalling conditions, or been torn from the wild, and possibly skinned alive.


WARNING: Animal lovers might not like this!