“[We] have spent a lot of time determining and then continually reviewing our sustainability metrics and targets,” said Group Sustainability Manager Rosie Wollacott. “At an early stage of this process, we decided not to use exotics in our collections, and this remains our position.”Mulberry’s decision to stop using exotic skins sees it joining a number of big names such as Chanel, Diane von Furstenberg, Paul Smith, Victoria Beckham, Vivienne Westwood, and others.

The news came from campaigning group PETA, which has also claimed that the trade in exotic skins “risks fuelling the spread of diseases like Covid-19”.PETA Director Elisa Allen said that with this particular coronavirus “believed to have originated in a Chinese market where wild and exotic animals, both alive and dead, are sold for human consumption,” the risk are huge. “The intense farming of exotic animals for both their flesh and their skins poses a risk of the animal-to-human transmission of newly evolved viruses. Exotic animal farms are breeding grounds for pathogens and increase the risk of future pandemics,” she said.