Yahoo News 
Singer Jane Birkin Asks For Name To Be Removed From Luxury Crocodile Skin Hermes Bag
(Rex)
British singer Jane Birkin has written to luxury French manufacturer Hermes to ask them to remove her name from its iconic crocodile-skin handbag because of animal rights issues.
The Hermes-Birkin handbag - that can sell for as much as £100,000 - has a waiting list that can last years and was the inspiration for an episode of Sex And The City.
But 68-year-old Birkin has requested her name not be associate with the item after being informed of the “cruel” practices used to make it.
The Je T’Aime singer said in a statement released by animal rights group PETA: “Having been alerted to the cruel practices reserved for crocodiles during their slaughter to make Hermes handbags carrying my name…
“I have asked Hermes to debaptise the Birkin Croco until better practices in line with international norms can be put in place.”
(Rex)
PETA claim that Birkin’s stance is a direct response to the group exposing crocodile and alligator farming and the way the animals are slaughtered in factory farms across the world, including a farm in Texas.
They thanked Birkin for her stance, saying on their website: “Birkin bags once marked people as celebrities – or at least members of the super-rich – but soon, no one will want to be caught dead carrying one.
“On behalf of all kind souls in the world, we thank Ms Birkin for ending her association with Hermes, and we call on Hermes to do the right thing and stop plundering wildlife, factory-farming crocodiles and alligators and slaughtering them for their skins.”
Hermes said in a statement to MailOnline that they “respect” her decision, in light of PETA’s video.
(Rex)
They added: “An investigation is underway at the Texas farm which was implicated in the video.
“Any breach of rules will be rectified and sanctioned.
‘Hermes specifies that this farm does not belong to them and that the crocodile skins supplied are not used for the fabrication of Birkin bags.”
The idea for the Hermes-Birkin bag came about from a chance meeting between the company’s chief executive, Jean-Louis Dumas, and Birkin on a flight to London in 1981.
Birkin told Dumas that she couldn’t find a suitable leather weekend bag - and the idea was born.
The crocodile version of the bag can sell for around £25,000.
Is Jane Birkin right to end her association with the bag? Let us know your views by tweeting @YahooStyleUK
Related links:
Bugaboo Pushchair Photo Sparks Outrage Among Mums: What Do You Make Of It?
