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See You Later Alligator: Chanel Is Ditching Exotic Animal Skin

It's reportedly the first luxury fashion house to pledge to stop using exotic animal skins in its collections.
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Chanel is joining the design houses that are going fur-free. 

The French brand is also going to stop using exotic animal skins in its clothes, shoes and purses — such as snake, stingray and crocodile. It's reportedly the first luxury fashion house to do this. 

A spokeswoman for the brand told CNN that Chanel at least partly made these decisions because "it is becoming increasingly difficult to source exotic skins which match our ethical standards."

A growing number of fashion companies have also pledged to go fur-free, including Burberry, Versace and Michael Kors.

Not as many brands are banning exotic skins, though. Instead they're coming up with alternative ways to source them — like the parent company of Gucci and Alexander McQueen, which purchased a python farm in Thailand last year. 

Chanel's president told Women's Wear Daily that, in place of the skins, it plans to use materials generated by the "agri-food" industry.