After tears for crocodiles, Jane Birkin keeps name on Hermes bag

Following the reports that Jane Birkin has dropped her request to have her name taken off the iconic Birkin bag after PETA released uncovered footage the horrific treatment crocodiles under went the label's suppliers farms, PETA'a founder Ingrid Newkirk commented: "Jane Birkin is a good person, and we think she has been given false assurances by Hermès that it gives a hoot about animals or that what PETA US witnessed was – so conveniently – an aberration in the way that it factory-farms and slaughters crocodiles and alligators."

"The appalling conditions that PETA US exposed are not an "isolated irregularity" at all. In the month that PETA US' investigator was employed at the Lone Star Alligator Farm's abattoir in Texas, no inspectors were on site nor was there any mention of inspections, casting grave doubt on Hermès' assurances that it conducts monthly inspections. Had Hermès personnel looked, they would have seen alligators crowded into dark, filthy pits full of alligator waste and grossly inhumane methods used to kill the reptiles – yet nothing was done about it. We believe Ms Birkin will come to realise that her good name does not belong on a bag made from the cruelly obtained skins of factory-farmed wildlife."

British singer Jane Birkin has dropped a request to have her name taken off a Hermes handbag after the group reviewed its treatment of crocodiles, a company statement said Friday.

"Following the heartfelt emotion expressed by Jane Birkin and her request for explanation, Hermes in agreement with her reiterates its firm commitment in the ethical treatment of crocodiles in its partner farms," the luxury fashion house said. It said the 68-year-old singer said she was "satisfied" by the measures taken by Hermes.

After Birkin learned of the "cruel" methods associated with the production of crocodile-skin bags, she asked the luxury manufacturer to take her name off the bag in late July.

The bag was designed for Birkin in 1984, after a chance meeting of the singer and the group's then president, Jean-Louis Dumas. She complained she could not find a bag that was both elegant and practical. The bag has since become a celebrities' favourite, beloved of Victoria Beckham, Kim Kardashian and characters in the "Sex and the City" television series, among others.

The crocodile version, which costs at least 33,000 euros (36,000 dollar), is one of Hermes's best-known products, along with its silk scarves and purses named after Grace Kelly. Animal rights group PETA released a video about the Choose FileClick here to upload and insert file from you hard slaughter of crocodiles for the production of the famous bags, with reptiles allegedly "cruelly hacked" to death to produce a purse. After Birkin announced her request to have her name removed, PETA said on its website: "On behalf of all kind souls in the world, we thank Ms Birkin for ending her association with Hermes." The British singer and actress is best known as the former wife of French singer Serge Gainsbourg. (AFP)