The Leather Work, one of the latest "pop-up shops" in town which opened in a leading Bangkok department store earlier this month, is definitely worth a visit. Just be prepared for a shock.
It is the collaborative brainchild of marketing and communications company Ogilvy & Mather Thailand and animal rights organisation PETA Asia. Now you can probably imagine that the "luxury" goods in the store are not typical products.
The shop is set in off-white walls with the very bright light creating an elegant atmosphere. A wide variety of leather products like purses, wallets, jackets, and belts are on display. By their look, these goods are well-designed and beautiful. But as soon as customers examine them in detail, instead of seeing how neat they are, they will be surprised and possibly in shock at the imitated animal skin and internal organs that are hidden as components of the products. This is all to change people's attitudes towards leather goods so that they consider using these products an act of cruelty.
"Every year, hundreds of thousands of reptiles are caught and slaughtered as part of the exotic skins industry. People, however, do not know how these reptiles suffer before they are turned into shoes, belts and bags. We know that the only way to help these animals is to make people realise that they are part of this criminal action, indirectly though. We hope this campaign will wake people up and inspire them to take the right action by only purchasing vegan clothing products," said Jason Baker, vice-president of PETA Asia.
According to PETA, Thailand has the world's largest number of crocodile farms, which are a source for fashion brands.
The process of taking crocodile skin is done in a way where the animals are shot and bludgeoned with a hammer. Snakes are nailed to trees. Their bodies are cut open from one end to the other when they are still alive.
After all, The Leather Work is not an actual shop. Rather it is an exhibition set up in a shop-like environment to raise awareness on what's left unseen in the exotic skin industry.
What's behind those pretty purses is full of blood and internal organs. Inside some of the products, animals' "hearts" are still beating to convey that these animals are slaughtered alive and left to die of dehydration, which can take some time.
The shop staff who stand at the shop's cashier counter are in charge of providing more information about this campaign which, according to its organiser, will be on exhibit for three months.
So far, the campaign seems to have shocked customers. However, whether it will successfully get the message across to customers in the future remains to be seen.
