Animal rights group LAV says it ‘showed companies images and videos of how kangaroos are killed in such a brutal way’ (Picture: Shutterstock/Robyn Butler/Getty Images)

Versace has banned the use of kangaroo skin in its products after pressure from an animal rights group.

LAV, a Latvian group which fights for cruelty-free lifestyle choices, claims more than 2.3 million of the marsupials are hunted for commercial purposes every year in Australia, with thousands more feared dead in the catastrophic bushfires.

Representative Simone Pavesi said Italian fashion company Versace had confirmed over email that they had stopped using kangaroo skin in 2019 after they were shown footage of ‘brutal killings’.

Pavesi said: ‘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.’

Although Versace refused to issue an official statement on the matter, a spokesperson said in an email to The Guardian: ‘We can confirm the definitive stop of the use of kangaroo leather starting from the 2019 collections.’

Thousands of kangaroos are feared dead in the devastating Australian bushfires (Picture: Shutterstock / Robyn Butler)

Versace has confirmed it stopped using kangaroo skin in 2019 (Picture: Getty Images)

The EU is Australia’s biggest market for kangaroo meat and Italy is the biggest importer of the skin.

LAV has called for the Italian government to ban imports of kangaroo skin and have written to Australia’s ambassador in Italy, Greg French, calling for a ban on kangaroo hunting.

In 2018, Donatella Versace, the company’s chief designer and vice-president, announced her family’s luxury label would no longer use real fur in its products.

She told the Economist’s 1843 magazine: ‘Fur? I am out of that. I don’t want to kill animals to make fashion. It doesn’t feel right.’

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