Newly rebranded Anglo-Swiss watch brand Christopher Ward has announced that it will no longer offer alligator leather watch straps because of ‘ethical’ concerns.
Speaking about the rebrand for the May issue of WatchPro, Christopher Ward co-founder Mike France stated that the brand had become concerned about the ethics of alligator farming in Louisiana where their straps leather is sourced from.
“There has been quite a lot of exposure about the farming perhaps not being as ethical as we would like it to be and therefore we took a decision a while back to exit from alligator straps and instead introduce at the top end of our business a beautiful Cordovan leather strap.” He said.
While France points out in the same interview that Christopher Ward will increasingly reveal its own design identity and move away from designs that have been accused of following those of others too closely, Christopher Ward will also stop selling straps with embossed patterns.
“Over the course of the next six months we will be doing two things; number one we’ll be introducing new qualities of straps, two key leather straps. There will be no embossing on any of our straps, so back to being clear, straightforward, honest in our product design, no embossed crocodile or alligator [patterns].”
The full interview with Mike France can be read in the May issue of WatchPro which is out now and available to read now here.
Anglo – British?
What next Chinese China?
Apologies, I of course meant Anglo-Swiss.