Monday 20 July 2009

Life's a Debate: A herd of... crocodiles?


Now let me just begin by saying that the above title does not mean I believe a group of crocodiles is a herd. I know for a fact that is either a congregation or a float(Ha!). But that is besides the point of this post as you will soon see.That being said, I can now introduce the topic.


Well, one day as I sailed through cyberspace (much better than "surfing" because you can multi-task darling...lol) I stumbled upon the headline "Hermes Breeds Own Crocs to Meet Bag Demand" on Reuters.com and was instantly repulsed. Yet, I read on and, as I suspected, the article told me all about Hermes's then recent decision to breed its own crocodiles on its own farms. At first, I was appalled. What kind of world allows and even encourages animals to be reared just so that they can be killed and their skin used to create a bag! And by maintaining farms in order to meet this demand isn't Hermes enabling the current situation? After all, the best way to solve the problem of excess demand would be to stop demand, wouldn't it?


But one can't only look at it that way. After all, Hermes is at least making an effort. According to Paul Thomas, Hermes is willing to run its own farms despite the fact that crocodile rearing is capital intensive and generally expensive (each crocodile has to be kept separately and even then a third of them may die in the rearing process). This should decrease the amount of wild crocodiles hunted and killed for their skin, especially considering the fact that it take 3-4 crocodiles to make each bag. Apart from that, they do have a responsibility to their customers especially if they want to maintain brand loyalty. It's all very complicated.




This is a topic I've wanted to write about ever since I heard about it but I wanted to wait for a followership first because of the nature of the post. It's a little food for thought.



Love you all and Stay Inspired,



Aury



P.S. So tell me what you think. Is Hermes's decision pro- or against crocodile survival? Are organizations like PETA and other animal rights centered groups being to hard on them? Or do u think that the only real way to make a difference would be by switching from real to faux? Feel Free to comment below.

5 comments:

Dubai Stylista said...

Gosh. I hadn't heard of this before! Crocodile rearing might be capital intesive, but Hermes is obviously looking at the bigger picture here. Their bags retail for ridiculous amounts- revenue generated here would well cover their costs. It's an insanely selfish decision, and to use 'wild crocodile survival' as an excuse is crazy. Oh well. Thanks for sharing! Im gonna go read up on this a little bit now.

Unknown said...

This is revolting! As a vegan, I'm against any kind of animal explotation and I hate to think that we live in a world where people would pay a large sum of money for something made out of a dead crocodile. That's just fucking gross! The bags look really ugly and what is wrong with synthetics? I would much rather spend my cash on a bag that is made of recycled matter, that has been developed by scientists to be long lasting and sustainable.

Consumers should vote with their dollar and use it to support forward-thinking companies rather then these backward, inhumane practices. Fuck brand loyalty, do your reasearch, there are amazing companies out there producing amazing evironment and animal friendly products that, in my opinion, are just as luxurious as a Hermes bag.

Thanks for the article and for your comment on my blog too, hope I didn't come accross as too angry! xx

Frannie said...

-Dubai Stylista:
I can see your point. The truth is that, they will most likely be able to cover the costs of the farms with their revenue from the bags. I mean that is why they are even bothering to continue the line isn't it?

-hollie- Your welcome and dont worry about it. After all I totally get why you're angry. This is just a really sad situation and it's this kind of thinking that does not encourage development you know. And I dont even know what to feel worse about, the people that make these bags or the people that spend sooo long and pay soo much for them.

Anonymous said...

OMG...I read about this AGES ago...and I honestly think it's wrong. Just because Hermes is a brand for super-rich people, it should not give them the right to breed crocodiles simply for the purpose of killing them. They could find some other (fake) material which looks exactly like crocodile leather and then produce the bag at a price which more people can afford. Sorry, but I completely disagree with this.

Frannie said...

-Anonymous- I read about it as soon as it came out too. And I wanted to present this article as unbiased as I could because I want to encourage the debate. But as I said before I totally wish that Hermes would just quit the line altogether or maybe re-introduce it as faux crocodile skin instead. Wouldn't that be more reasonable?

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An Ordinary Girl's World is a blog for stylish and artistic teens, college students and young adults, creatively finding their way in this world. Its about expressing yourself through your personal style, your lifestyle, your relationships and friendships.
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Hello! I am Frannie a.k.a Frances Anne and I am a 21 year old Catholic Missionary. I am Nigerian but have lived all over the world and I currently live and serve in the U.S. I love God, others and life in general. I bubble over with joy everyday and would love to share my joy with you.
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