There are many misconceptions about exotic leather — notably the python, crocodile, and alligator skins that are transformed into the fashion industry’s most luxe handbags and leather goods. But when sourced and harvested legally and responsibly, these animals are valuable renewable natural resources that support the conservation of the species and their delicate habitats. They also provide income to local communities. 

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In this episode, Lauren Parker, director of Fairchild Studios, chats with Karen Giberson, president of the Accessories Council, and Christy Plott Gilmore, owner of the fifth-generation American Tanning & Leather LLC, as well as an exotic leather trade policy consultant to CITES, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora.

“I like to explain to people who work in the fashion industry that likening legal, sustainable hunting to poaching is like calling shoppers ‘shoplifters.’ It puts it in perspective. They’re very, very different things,” said Plott Gilmore, citing LVMH’s Life 360 Project as an initiative that supports traceability, biodiversity and supplier relationships by investing in communities and ecosystems that are within their supply chains.

Giberson agrees that it’s all about transparency and understanding. “[The Accessories Council’s] position has always been, if the materials are obtained legally and ethically, it should be the consumers’ choice of whether or not they want to buy it or not,” said Giberson. “So, when we see things like materials being banned — sometimes without the deep understanding of what it means to ban the materials and the stakeholders behind it — it’s time to speak up.”

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