The backlash toward leather-good brand Hermès has sparked protests around the world from affiliates of PETA after footage emerged last week of the “barbaric” conditions of its crocodile farm suppliers.

In Paris, London and New York, PETA activists stood outside Hermès stores in crocodile masks, holding bloodied handbags and signs, protesting the business to stop the poor treatment of animals.

The latest footage comes from farms in the Northern Territory, at a time when the business is looking to expand its saltwater crocodile farms in the region, which could see as many as 50,000 crocodiles farmed for their skin.

“These images look like they are straight out of a horror film and remind us of what we already know: the exotic-skins industry is a bloody and cruel business,” said PETA Campaigns Advisor Mimi Bekhechi.

“PETA reiterates its call for Hermès to join the many designers who are turning away from animal skins in favour of innovative, ethical, and sustainable materials for which no one has endured horrific living conditions and a violent death.”

Inside Retail last week reached out to Hermès for comment.

According to the Kindness Project, 60 per cent of crocodile skin comes from Australia, with two thirds of this coming from the Northern Territory.

PETA became a shareholder of Hermès in 2015 to push back against exposed cruelty in reptile farms in Texas and Zimbabwe, and in 2016 also revealed poor conditions for young ostriches at a Hermès supplier, before finding more poor conditions in 2017 in a Vietnam crocodile supplier.