London leads fashion capitals in banning exotic animal skins

London will become the first of the four main fashion weeks to ban brands featuring exotic skins, the British Fashion Council said on Friday.

"We will not showcase any brands featuring real fur or exotic skins in their collections and ask designers to agree to these conditions as part of their application to appear at London Fashion Week," it said.

London fashion week has been fur-free since 2018 but until now designers have been free to use the skins of animals such as snakes, crocodiles and alligators in their collections.

It was not known if the other main fashion weeks -- Paris, New York and Milan -- would follow suit.

The council said the next issue it had to consider was the use of feathers.

It said it was "actively engaging with designers and the wider fashion community to discuss our approach to feathers on the catwalk".
Copenhagen fashion week said earlier this year it would ban feathers from its shows from next year. Ostrich feathers are the ones most commonly used.
Copenhagen has already banned exotic skins.

Agence France-Presse