NEW YORK – Animal advocacy organization PETA on Wednesday dressed three women in clothes that resembled human skin – in which ears, noses, mouths and teeth were visible – to protest in front of a New York store of the famous chain of Urban Outfitters clothing against the sale of goods made with fur and animals.
The organization staged a mock fashion show in front of its Herald Square store on Manhattan’s 35th Street today featuring models wearing a jacket, purse, pants, skirt, purse and shoes with teeth and gums pretending to be made of skin and hair humans, a macabre scene straight out of a horror movie that made many passers-by stop on the busy street.
“This is part of the campaign against Urban Outfitters, to raise awareness that animals whose skin is used for clothing, such as cows, suffer just as much as we do: they feel pain, they feel fear, and it’s horrible and cruel they use their bodies like clothes,” PETA Deputy Director Ashley Byrne told EFE.
PETA has thus resumed a campaign, launched on its website in December last year, against Urban Outfitters, which is called “urbanoutraged” (a play on words between the brand name and enraged).
The portal simulates an online shop in which the organization “sells” trousers, skirts, dresses, belts, bags, jackets and shoes that appear to be made of human skin -like the one seen today in the protest-, to discourage people from buying products animals made.
Byrne indicated that several department stores – such as Macy’s and fashion brands such as Prada, Gucci or Diane Von Furstenberg – have stopped selling or using products derived from animals. However, she says, many companies “are much slower” to adopt these policies.
“Now customers are concerned about animal cruelty and the environment, so companies are realizing this and many are starting to phase out these products or their lines,” said Byrne, complaining that millions of animals are killed every year for their fur and to be used in the fashion industry.
Byrne pointed out that “sometimes a single piece needs multiple animals to make” and recalled that there are durable, trendy, animal-free “eco” materials, such as pineapples, grapes, cacti and a variety of other materials” and no one has to die.”
