New Company Rayfish Farms Stingrays to Skin for Shoes

by Ali Berman June 1, 2012
Categories: Animals, Fashion.
Photo: Rayfish

The innovative ways people come up with to exploit animals in the effort to make some cash never ceases to amaze us. This time, a new company called Rayfish is raising genetically engineered stingrays to make expensive shoes.

How are they genetically engineering them? Rayfish explains on their website, “Rayfish Footwear uses a patented process of bio-customization, which allows you to design your own living, transgenic stingray. Using the DNA on file in our genetic library, you can combine the skin patterns and coloration from dozens of different species.”

That means that by using the DNA from other species, they are able to change the look of the stingrays that are grown in their facility. Each stingray is slaughtered to make one shoe. Are you cringing? Us too.

The company does have a note about the stingrays being raised “humanely” although it doesn’t specify what that means. Perez Hilton points to a photo on Rayfish’s facebook page showing a picture of some “Zebra” stingrays.

They haven’t started mass production yet, but they expect to in late 2012. Sneakers will be priced at $1800 a pair. At least with high prices like those, the number of sneakers they sell will be lower. But then again, when you do the math, if they sell 100 pairs, that’s 200 stingrays sacrificed.

About Ali Berman

Ali Berman is a writer, teacher and activist. She works as a humane educator for HEART teaching kids about issues affecting people, animals and the environment. Ali is also a fiction writer. Her published work can be found on her website at aliberman.com. In early 2012 Ali co-founded flipmeover, a production company with the mission to use media to raise awareness of social issues.

View all posts by Ali Berman →

http://twitter.com/SFriedScientist Andrew Thaler

hoax
- Anonymous
  
  It could be. It’s difficult to tell whether the photos are real. It does seem a bit like some kind of Yes Men stunt. In any case, the overall response on Facebook seems to be overwhelmingly negative.
  - http://twitter.com/SFriedScientist Andrew Thaler
    
    Not only does the science not exist to do this, but genetics doesn’t work the way Rayfish describes. Pigmentation genes from one species don’t just automatically create the same pattern when inserted into a completely different species’ genome. Add to that a “patented process” for which no patent exists and the fact that, if this were true, it would literally be the least profitable way to use this technology and you have all the ingredients for a great hoax.
  - GDiFonzo
    
    Good point, Andrew. I would also imagine that any undertaking involving genetic engineering would be unbelievably cost-prohibitive for a startup company. As for the words “patented process,” I hear them on so many commercials that I just tuned them out in this case. Observant!
http://twitter.com/alisonmf Alison Foxall

This is utterly disgusting. I can’t believe people.