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February 17, 2000

Alligator Skins Make Fashion Comeback --- With Environmental OK

BATON ROUGE, La. (ANS) -- Alligators have been off the U.S. endangered species list since 1987, but the successful campaign to protect them still lingers in the minds of many Americans, making it harder for the Louisiana alligator-skin industry to thrive, even though its practices now have the endorsement of environmentalists.

So when an orange alligator-skin bustier, a lingerie item akin to a corset, was sported by a model at a New York fashion show last September, it was of more than just fashion interest to a researchers at Louisiana State University who are seeking to introduce more uses for alligator skin and to update the threatened-species image of alligator skin in the minds of fashion-buying women.

While killing alligators to turn their skins into handbags and bustiers might seem counter to preserving the species, it does in fact help conservation, say environmentalists who endorse the managed approach to alligator farming now in place.

"This is an interesting approach to conservation, one we strongly endorse. This is not a scam, it's based on sound biology," said Dr. Perran Ross, executive officer of the Crocodile Specialist Group of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, based at the Florida Museum of Natural History in Gainesville, Fla.

Stressing that controlled commercial harvesting of alligators is actually positive for conservation, Ross said the current alligator-farming programs run in Louisiana, as well as in Florida, Georgia, Texas and South Carolina, are done under close regulatory scrutiny, and he is confident that these activities are not problems for the once-again flourishing alligator population.

"Creating economic incentives creates interest in preserving alligators," said Ross. "It’s a win-win all around and it's a new way of doing conservation."

Ross said, "Alligators are not cute bunnies; most people just don't like them." While many people want to conserve alligators in the abstract, he said, "the first time they eat your dog or scare your child, they don't want them around." But

if alligators are seen to have a commercial value, people tend to tolerate them.

The bustier, part of designer Christina Perrin's spring 2000 collection, marked a major stride in the researchers' efforts to promote the use of Louisiana alligator skin in top American apparel markets.

While alligators have been off the endangered species list for more than a decade, the industry still has something of a public relations problem, according to LSU researchers who surveyed the attitudes of fashion industry professionals and consumers.

Only 44 percent of female consumers said it was socially acceptable to wear alligator leather accessories, and the same percentage knew that the American alligator had been removed from the endangered species list.

Today alligator skins come from farm-grown alligators in a tightly controlled environment, said Teresa Summers, one of the researchers on the project and professor at the human ecology department.

Alligators, which top 1.5 million in the wild in Louisiana, are grown for hides and meat in about 100 farms around the state. Eggs are collected from the wild for the farms; when the animals are about 1 year old, 17 percent are mandated by state law to be returned to the wild. "Because of this renewable aspect (to farming), we have a very strong wild population," Summers said. The ultimate goal of the LSU alligator research, now in its third year, is to find a way to convince the affluent female American consumer that alligator skins are okay to buy.

Louisiana is the world's top producer of farm-raised American alligator hides for the classic leather market, which accounts for about $38 million in economic activity each year. While sales of alligator skins are strong to European markets -- which use the hide to make women's handbags, shoes, clothing and accessories -- United States markets have been slow to catch on, Summers said. Most of the alligator skin in the United States is used in men's products, such as cowboy boots, belts and attaché cases.

"The state has invested quite a bit in the alligator industry," said Yvonne Marquette, a LSU human ecology professor, and researcher on the alligator project. "Unless there continue to be new markets or renewed interest in traditional markets, the industry could suffer."

Despite the push, the industry is not interested running full tilt and competing with cowhide, Summers said. "Alligator skin has always been associated with luxury goods ... This is a product for the affluent market," she said. While a high-quality cowhide cowboy boot sells for $500 to $800, a similarly made boot in alligator skin runs $5,000 to $6,000. However, scraps of alligator leather can be used to make earrings, hair barrettes and billfolds for less than $50. "That opens up new markets," she said.

Spreading the word about alligator skins is the next focus of the project, Summers said. The team is conducting a survey to determine the types of media that would be most effective in promoting alligator products to target markets. That could lead to an advertising campaign aimed at the upscale consumers most likely to buy alligator skin products.

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Contact: :

Teresa Summers, professor in textiles, apparel design and merchandising, School of Human Ecology, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, La., 225-388-1524.

Dr. Perran Ross, executive officer, Crocodile Specialist Group of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, Gainesville, Fla., 352 846 2566.