Clothing label Versace is being praised for choosing to stop using kangaroo skin in its products.
Animal campaigners have announced that after months of consultation, the Italian clothing brand has decided not to use Skippy's skin for leather.
Animal rights group LAV says more than 2.3 million kangaroos are killed in Australia every year for commercial purposes, but this decision from Versace is a massive step forward.
LAV spokesperson Simone Pavesi said: "We have been corresponding with Versace over email and they confirmed that in 2019 they stopped using kangaroo skin.
Advert
"We welcome this as a sign of responsibility, today more than ever. The fires that are devastating Australia add to the massacres of hunting, with dramatic consequences for the kangaroo population."
"We showed the companies images and videos of how kangaroos are killed in such a brutal way. They understood the gravity of the situation and perhaps preferred not to give too much prominence to the fact that they were using kangaroo skin."
Versace told the Guardian that they had no statement to make on the matter, except for confirming it had stopped 'the use of kangaroo leather starting from the 2019 collections'.
The Italian company committed to stopping the use of real fur in 2018, with figurehead Donatella Versace saying it wasn't her style anymore.
Advert
"Fur? I am out of that. I don't want to kill animals to make fashion. It doesn't feel right," she told the Economist's 1843 magazine.
The European Union is the largest market for kangaroo meat and skin, so hopefully this decision from Versace will reduce the number of dead animals heading overseas every year.
But that's not the only relationship between Australia and Versace.
People were baffled last year when it was revealed that the upmarket brand had released a bunch of outfits with Ford logos all over it. While Ford isn't exclusively Australian, it's a pretty tru-blu brand in the country.
A hoodie with the Ford logo on the front and stamped with the Versace name was being sold for a casual $1,872.
Advert
What's even funnier is Versace's explanation for trying to flog something like this.
"Versace's collaboration with motor company Ford was inspired by 'the excitement of buying your first car'. They utilise the signature Ford logo to reflect emotions of joy and thrill," reads the blurb on FarFetch.
"Made in Italy, this back cotton x Ford logo print hoodie from Versace features a hood with a contrast printed logo in the rear, dropped shoulders, long sleeves, a central printed Ford logo, a kangaroo pocket and a ribbed hem and cuffs."
You could probably pick up this type of hoodie anywhere in Australia for maybe $40. But if you want to spend 46 times that amount just to get the word Versace printed on the hood then you're in luck.
Featured Image Credit: PATopics: News, Animals, Australia