25 February 2019
The Weekly
England

Selfridges will stop selling exotic skins by 2020. The department store plans to phase out products made of python, alligator, lizard and crocodile skin - its ultimate aim being to only sell leather from agricultural livestock as of February 2020. Selfridges had banned real fur as of 2005 and is also spearheading a number of other initiatives to promote conscious consumption. As part of its Buying Better, Inspiring Change initiative - introduced in 2016 - the retailer is working towards ensuring that 50% of all its products are eco-friendly by 2022. Its Bright New Things campaign also highlights up-and-coming designers who are working sustainably, while an ongoing Project Ocean campaign highlights the issue of plastic waste. To take a stance against plastic, the retailer removed all single-use plastic water bottles from sale in 2015, and all single-use carbonated drinks bottles in 2018. Selfridges' latest move got the thumbs up from the global animal protection organization, Humane Society International.