Why Gucci is growing its own pythons
Rising demand for exotic skin has spurred the luxury brand house to build a python farm in Thailand
From Balenciaga’s high-top black python trainers for men to a full-length trenchcoat sported by Rihanna, snakeskin – or python in particular – is having something of a fashion moment.
The Paris-based company has set up a farm in Thailand, complete with breeding stock, and the snakes will be raised in “the best conditions for animals, farmers and the ecosystem” before they are turned into shoes, bags and belts.
Kering said it was investing in the farm to provide a sustainable source of skins. The project comes amid growing pressure from campaigners over the use of exotic animal skins for fashion.
Kering said its farm would begin producing adult skins in 2018, with provision of “a significant number” expected by 2020.
Commercial farms already exist in south-east Asia and China, but the system is widely used to “launder” illegally caught wild pythons – to the extent that most supposedly farmed python skin from Cambodia, Indonesia and Laos is considered suspect.
In the past, farming of the reticulated python and Burmese python – two of the world’s largest snakes – has been regarded as uneconomic, because the snakes take about three years to mature and are difficult to care for and breed in captivity.