PETA protesters walked the New York Fashion Week catwalk on Thursday night to demonstrate against the use of leather.
One of the protesters at the Coach 2024 Ready-to-Wear fashion show stomped the runway holding a sign that read ‘Coach: Leather Kills”.
Another was covered in body paint making it look as if she’d been skinned, and had the same words written on her chest.
A press release by PETA said the protesters were ‘a PETA supporter’ and ‘two other animal advocates’, and their intent was ‘to slam the brand for its cruelty to cows and its reliance on environmentally destructive leather products.’
PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman said: ‘Today’s conscientious consumers know that the future of fashion lies in innovative vegan materials, not in cows’ sliced-off skin.
‘PETA is shaking up Coach’s catwalk to drive home the message that leather belongs in the annals of history, not in designers’ current collections.’
The moment has garnered a lot of attention online, as we’re sure it was intended to. Aside from the leather vs. vegan alternatives debates going on in the comments, many have been praising the strong walk of the woman holding the sign.
‘Wait…she kinda ate that,’ commented one person on X (formerly known as Twitter) under a video that primarily follows that protestor.
‘Kendall and lila are shaking,’ wrote another.
Somebody else joked: ‘She can’t be vegan ’cause she ate everyone in that room.’
However, others, including fashion fans, have taken issue with the way she was removed from the catwalk.
In one of several clips of the show doing the rounds (it is Fashion Week, after all, everyone’s got their phones out), you can see the woman with the sign being dragged away by security, while it’s unclear what happened with the other protesters.
Under a post shared by The Cut on Instagram, one person argued: ‘The person that grabbed her needs to reevaluate themselves. Grabbing anyone like that when they are clearly of no physical threat to anyone is completely uncalled for.’
Someone else agreed, writing: ‘Dude needs to chill. It’s a runway show in 2023… for Coach… she’s also clearly a model and non-violent.’
We’ve reached out to Coach representatives for comment on the protest.
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