Python frenzy splits fashion world

Designer labels including Jimmy Choo, Calvin Klein, Prada, Fendi, Roberto Cavalli and YSL have all used snakeskin for bags and shoes this year.

Since Kylie Minogue was photographed at a Prince concert last week sporting a python Zagliani bag, demand has risen for the bags costing from £500 for a small clutch to £5,000 totes.

The trend was today condemned by campaigners. Poorva Joshipura, a spokeswoman for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, said: "A python has a hose shoved down its throat, is blown up with water then skinned alive. Then it's tossed onto a pile and is left, sometimes for days, before it dies. The trade is pushing many species towards extinction and the endangered species of tomorrow can be seen in the luxury shops of today."

The European Union is the world's biggest importer of reptile skins. Between 2000 and 2005, 3.4 million lizards, 2.9 million crocodiles and 3.4 million snakeskins were brought in. Designers claim to use skins from "farmed" pythons, but experts warn there is a thriving illegal trade, especially in India and Indonesia.

Zagliani designer Mauro Orietti-Carella said: "Zagliani was founded 70 years ago as a company that specialised in exotic skins bags. We are not following a fashion moment. We do not make as much as the market demands because we are concerned about the use of too many skins, and will only work in an ethical and environmentally responsible way."

FOR Becky Davies

Naively I believed that the scales on my make-up bag were skin naturally shed from a python's back, rather than barbarically stripped.

Snakeskin is luxurious and decadent; pretty much all the top designers have accessories made from it and they are much in demand.

Is wearing snakeskin any different from wearing leather or eating meat? Just as with animals farmed for their meat, those farmed for their skins should be treated well and killed humanely.

Exotic Italian bagmaker Zagliani - as well as other fashion houses - works closely with CITES (the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora). This organisation only use skins that come from the regulated annual cull of dangerous animals - pythons, crocodiles and alligators.

It is important to know where your skin, leather or fur came from. Then you can make up your own mind about whether you feel comfortable wearing it.

AGAINST Mimi Spencer

I've fallen for a fair few trends in my time, but nothing would possess me to wear python. The bloody heart of the matter is that there's nothing remotely cool about it.

Over the past decade, design houses - which increasingly rely for profits on the handbag and shoe market - have seized upon ever more exotic ways of presenting the humble satchel. Reticulated python and anaconda skins are just the latest trend.

Now, you may hope that your new handbag was friendly farmed and humanely harvested. And you may be right. But environmentalists insist that the python population of south-east Asia is under severe threat and that for every animal that goes through the system, another will be smuggled out. It is thought that only 10 per cent of stocks are farmed.

So, next time you find yourself stroking a slingback in Selfridges or hugging a handbag in Harvey Nicks, it might be worth questioning just how glamorous they really are. Personally, I wouldn't touch them with a long pole.