Asian influencers show off Hermes bags, made of elephant skin

This can be yours for $35,000.

Sum Ting Wong!

FUCK THEM.

Ho Lee Fuk this is screwed up.

I want to watch an elephant gore them in quick succession to make a rich lady shish kabob.

Dear god, no. These people are awful.

My grandmother had a bag (produced in the 1950s) made out of beluga whale.

Asian elephant?

Noxious little slags.

Indonesian human leather is even more precious.

Where's that elephant that killed that bitch by trampling her to death and then crashed her funeral to do it a second time when you need him?

Jackie O made the leopard coat popular in the 1960s, which led to the endangerment of the species. During the 1920s, the excessive use of feathers caused many birds to become extinct. Today, there has been a movement to have fashion houses pay royalties to wildlife charities if they use the leopard motif or lion figures for example. Hermes is one of the few houses who will still use African saltwater crocodile, ostrich, lizard, buffalo and even anteater.

Elephants are magnificent and intelligent creatures, yet they continue to be slaughtered for their tusks to fuel the ivory trade. While many countries have banned ivory imports to curb this cruelty, the species remains at risk of extinction due to poaching and habitat loss. The notion that their skin is being used to produce luxury handbags for the wealthy is not only grotesque but underscores the deep disconnect between human greed and wildlife conservation. This exploitation of such noble animals is heartbreaking and these women deserve to be turned into elephant feed.

Surprised activist don't murder anyone carrying one of those bags.

[Quote]Hermes is one of the few houses who will still use African saltwater crocodile, ostrich, lizard, buffalo and even anteater.

One of the family that owns Hermes told me they own a farm in Australia where the crocodiles are bred for the skins. I don't think the house uses African saltwater hides but it's possible. At the end of the day they will make whatever someone is willing to pay for, if it's legal. They do custom orders of all sorts of things, they did a crystal horse's head replicate of some Saudi prince's favourite horse. Hermes make toys for the monstrously rich, they have no moralty, it's all commerce.

Here we go. The Australian farm.

According to Google, Hermes sources skins from a variety of reptiles, including saltwater crocodiles (primarily farmed in Australia), Nile crocodiles (sourced from Africa, particularly Zimbabwe), and American alligators. It seems no reptile is off the table for their luxury “creations.”

Wow, this elephant skin Birkin sold recently for $40k. Monstrous.

Boycott Hermes now!

Using elephant is vile.

However, pythons have become a dangerously invasive species in Florida, and while I'm perfectly happy to let them deal with their own stupid, I don't have a problem with using python skins captured in Florida for fashion.

They actually pay people to go out and hunt pythons to try to curb the population, but it's met with limited success. There are just too many of them set free from idiots who thought having a pet python would be cool...until it wasn't.

Jane Birkin would’ve hated this shit.

R20 Ironically, Hermes avoids using python and other snakeskins. Not out of ethical considerations of course, but because snakeskin is notoriously prone to flaking and doesn’t age well. Hermes is more concerned with maintaining their reputation for quality than with morality. Unhappy customers aren’t good for business.

Elephant leather, on the other hand, is noted for its durability, a quality that, as OP pointed out, comes at a grim cost.

Bitches!

Cunts. From Hermes to the Indonesian bitch carrying the bag.

R24 One is Indonesian, the other is Japanese. Both cunts.

When I visited the flagship Paris store there were some really unpleasant seedy looking individuals in there. Like a man with longish greasy hair and tight jeans wearing sort of cowboy boots and carrying a Birkin. He looked revolting and I assumed he was some Russian drug kingpin or some Balkans gangland person. It Jade me sick, to be honest. Hermes is a magnet for some of the worse people on this planet.

I wish nothing but the worst for these preening, shallow sycophants, with their overstuffed closets and empty hearts. These soulless women represent everything that is wrong with humanity. You aren’t buying beauty, you’re buying a corpse. A grotesque, overpriced symbol of barbarism and CRUELTY that you think elevates your status but in fact only exposes your moral bankruptcy.

Honestly, carrying an elephant skin bag is kind of iconic. It’s giving anti modernity, pre greenwashing, unapologetic luxury. Like, why fake “sustainable” leather when you could lean into the history of materials people actually valued? It’s a subversive middle finger to virtue signaling and a callback to when luxury meant exclusive; not mass-produced “ethical” nonsense for influencers in fake cashmere.

Is it problematic? Sure, but in a chic way. Sometimes the point of fashion is to provoke, not conform. Besides, no one’s canceling alligator bags, so let’s not pretend this is about morality.

[quote] Indonesian human leather is even more precious.

Are you sure about this?

[quote]Besides, no one’s canceling alligator bags, so let’s not pretend this is about morality.

Making purses out of alligator is the moral thing to do.

Now, endangered crocodiles is another story...

All large scale animal husbandry is cruel because of the unhygienic crowded conditions the animals are raised in, but exotic leathers are especially abhorrent because crocs and lizards etc are bred solely for this purpose and their meat is not eaten. In most cases the animals are skinned alive. At least cow leather is a coproduct of the large meat industry already, though it still supports profitability based on animal torture. I won’t buy exotic leather or calf skin for this reason, and any cow leather items I buy secondhand.

Hermes also makes bags that are made of unborn animals. So they just open the pregnant animal, take the fetus, and skin it to make the product? Who even thinks of these things?

Using elephant skin to make handbags is beyond disgusting. I can't even think of words to describe how despicable I think this is.

Do you have a link for that R32? That's just mindblowingly repulsive.

R33 “Astrakhan (also spelled astrachan) is, properly speaking, the tightly curled fleece of the fetal or newborn karakul (also spelled caracul) lamb. Less accurately, it can also refer to the fleece of fetal or newborn lambs from other species, or a knitted or woven fabric that imitates the looped surface.”

Here is a $50,000 Hermes coat made out of fetal lamb.

R20 - I was just thinking the same thing. Let's use Boa - Florida is overrun with them. They're not supposed to be there.

An elephant leather Kelly bag dyed to resemble the animal from which it came.

A tasteful elephant skin clutch. Because nothing says “formal elegance” like accessorizing with an endangered species. Perfect for weddings, galas, or when you want to let everyone know you’re the final boss of moral depravity.

Thanks R34 & R35. Fucking repulsive and disgusting is what that is.

Hermes can get absolutely fucked.

Anyone who buys something expensive purely to impress others is a fucking loser in my book. I don't care if her husband is a billionaire.

R28 = Cruella de Vil

The fashion industry is evil. We’ve always known this.

This is [bold]especially[/bold] evil though R42. There must be public outcry about this. This is not acceptable on any level.

Anyone who owns one of these elephant skin handbags is a very sick person. I'd like to meet them because I have a few very specific things to say to them.

The entire human species belongs in a basket of deplorables at this point.

I sent OP's video to Yashar zali.

Wait, forget immoral, isn't making bags out of elephant skint totally illegal? You can't even distribute *antique* elephant ivory items, even tortoiseshell, across state and international lines. I'm an antiques dealer and we have to be well versed in the rules- especially international purchases. Not like I'm seeking out these materials or anything, it's just that a surprsingly wide array of items were made using natural materials during the Victorian era....and it sometimes be tricky to identify. But the point is that they will no longer even grandfather in really old pieces- they're totally illegal.

But Hermes can make and sell brand new purse using ELEPHANT skin?!!!

Someone somewhere is being paid off. I guarantee it.

At the very most those bags cost between $500 & $1500 to make, depending on the leather used. The markup on them is criminal. But Hermes and so many other 'luxury' accessory manufacturers are counting on there being plenty of gullible rich stupid people who are dumb enough to pay for them.

Speaking of elephant products, do they still make wastebaskets and umbrella stands out of elephant feet?

I don’t think I’ve ever seen one… I don’t even know why I know they exist(ed.) Maybe they were featured in a cartoon interior once??

Trump will make billions!

Sometimes you guys just turn my stomach.

I have a really hard time picturing these evil women dressed up like big game hunters carrying elephant guns and shooting elephants all by themselves. It's [bold]men[/bold] who kill the elephants. And if those elephant hides weren't used for handbags, I have no doubt that they would be used for some other luxury item, maybe even items bought by men -- and their tusks used for something as well.

And speaking of luxury fashion items, what percentage of the fashion industry is owned/operated/designed by gay men? Don't tell me there aren't any gay men involved in this fiasco.

So while you're cursing women with more money than compassion, maybe you should be looking in the mirror.

Oh for fuck's sakes R50. You've gone off the deep end.

Was it a rescue elephant?

Does Hermès do an elephant bag in pink??

Here, bitch.

Elephants, along with gorillas and dogs, are my favorite animal species. Hope karma is waiting for all those responsible.

R50 right, it's men's fault....women are being FORCED to buy that shit.

I'm also a woman but come on.

R50 Bitch, your pretzel logic is impossible to follow. Powerless women are ALWAYS the victim somehow, even when they are the perpetrators. Poor you.

Do you want pussy reparations? How much do we owe you?

Unless you are vegan, can you really judge them? Animals died for your bags and shoes, cow lives aren’t worth any less than elephant lives.

Heinous in the extreme.

R58 Are you serious? This isn’t about playing favorites between animals, it’s about basic decency and responsibility. Elephants are endangered, intelligent creatures that are critical to ecosystems. Cows are domesticated and bred for agriculture, like it or not, but elephants are being slaughtered to the brink of extinction for what? Some rich cunt’s handbag?

And no, the fact that cow leather exists doesn’t give anyone a free pass to exploit every other animal on the planet. If you want to talk about ethics, start with reducing the demand for all leather instead of defending practices that are literally wiping out an entire species. It’s not just wrong, it’s totally barbaric.

We need sustainably sourced elephant hides!