Inside the Billionaire's Wardrobe This World

# It's a brand-new dance, dance... #

This programme contains scenes which some viewers may find upsetting.

Billionaires now control more of the world's wealth than ever before.

This is £3,000.

And they are scouring the globe for the latest must-have luxury goods...

You've got a stingray, you've got lizard on the tongue,

-you've got elephant on the side.

-..and top of the list are animals.

The Russian sable.

High-quality, expensive and beautiful.

Crocodile skins are just like diamonds

and they're extremely precious.

Brands are literally going to the ends of the earth to find them.

I can see the trail where she's been. Look at that! What am I doing?

But how much do we really know about where this stuff comes from?

REGGIE GASPS

Just caught it with his bare hands. Look at that.

Why do you have a lynx here?

And what's the real cost of luxury fashion?

The scale of this is just jaw-dropping.

# Fashion... #

I have literally come to the other side of the planet

to find out the truth behind fashion and the animal trade.

# Fashion...

# Fashion! #

MUSIC: Vogue by Madonna

The international fashion industry is huge

and worth £26 billion to UK PLC alone.

# Strike the pose... #

Trends and styles come and go, and this year

it's all about fur.

# Vogue, vogue... #

But fur is still controversial

and this is what the anti-fur protest looks like

at London Fashion Week.

It is a symbol of wealth, to be sure.

You've always had that nouveau-riche customer who just doesn't care

what it is, as long as it's expensive.

-When I was growing up, fur was seen as taboo.

-Yes.

It was something that people were throwing red paint on.

After the crash of 2007, there's been a whole new

generation of super-rich. You know, what we talk about is the 1%,

and they have never had

this indoctrination against wearing fur, and they have money to buy it.

And if there's one group that bought fur back into fashion,

it's these guys.

Some rappers have included fur

in their own exclusive fashion lines.

Kanye West even had a fur backpack at a cool 6,000.

And then you have the Chinese, and the Chinese are an enormous market.

All of this is about China.

80% of fashion purchases today are by Chinese.

That's incredible.

It's a completely virgin market for everything in luxury,

including fur.

The fur market is now worth 40 billion worldwide.

That's an increase of 70% in the last ten years.

Lots of people think it's OK to wear fur again.

But how much do we really know about where it comes from?

'I've come to Russia, home to some of the world's most expensive fur.'

What about this?

'It's never really gone out of fashion here.'

What is this? INDISTINCT

I'm here to meet a man who's described as a legend

in the industry...

Well, that ain't warm.

..Igor Gulyaev.

Hello.

-Igor.

-Nice to meet you.

-Reggie, nice to meet you, yeah.

Igor has designed luxury coats

for some of the world's most famous faces.

I've never been to a fur boutique before,

so what sort of furs do we have?

For instance, what's this?

-Lynx.

-Lynx.

Wow, OK.

-Look at this. Boom!

-It's racoon.

It, er, coyote.

-OK.

-What is it? It's raccoon?

REGGIE LAUGHS

-Is this mink?

-Mink.

OK, what...? Oh, my goodness.

Wow. Wow.

It's soft, isn't it?

THEY LAUGH

-You have to go to...Oscar.

-Look at this.

I feel regal. IGOR LAUGHS

It's funny, isn't it? I don't actually own any fur,

but the minute you get it on, you suddenly feel expensive.

Da.

-Oh, man, look at this.

-Ah?

What is this? What am I wearing?

Fox.

-This is fox.

-Yes, it's dead fox.

And how many animals have gone into making this particular coat?

-Ten.

-About ten?

THEY LAUGH

I guess that's what it comes down to, right?

Do you think most people don't consider the animal

-when they buy a fur?

-No.

-They're just thinking about the beauty of the feeling?

-Yes.

Why is that?

-Not really, no.

-Ah?

When you buy meat, when you buy...

kolbasa?

Sausages.

-When you buy sausages, do you think about the animal?

-No.

-It is here.

I thought mink was the most expensive fur,

but for the global super-rich

there's something even more exclusive.

-What fur is this?

-The Russian sable.

-This is Russian sable.

Last year, a fur coat by Fendi,

made from wild caught sable, sold for over one million Euros.

This is the stuff that sends the super-rich crazy.

Why's it so expensive?

IGOR LAUGHS

What is so special about Russian sable, then?

So this is the diamond of your store?

-It is not only my store. In Russia.

-Right.

-The world.

High-quality, expensive, and beautiful.

WIND WHISTLES

Siberia.

More than 60 times the size of Britain.

This place is big.

It can drop to -40 here in the winter.

So I can see why they might want to wear fur.

Siberia is home of the legendary Russian sable.

DOG BARKS

'But before I find the sable, I need to find the hunter.'

Of course he drives a Lada.

REGGIE LAUGHS

Hello, are you Vadim? SHE SPEAKS IN RUSSIAN

They'll show you.

Hello, Vadim?

HE SPEAKS IN RUSSIAN

Wrong house.

I'm pretty sure the last person he expected to open the door to was a black guy and a camera crew.

REGGIE LAUGHS

Vadim? Reggie, nice to meet you.

How are you doing?

You're actually wearing sandals in the snow?

HE SPEAKS IN RUSSIAN

It's perfect. He's already way more of a man than I am.

Two days ago, Vadim set his traps.

Now we're heading out to check them for sable.

It looks like my transport's sorted.

In the back of that.

RUSSIAN FOLK MUSIC

'The journey takes us across a massive frozen lake.

'Lake Baikal.'

This is a first.

This is the deepest lake in the world,

containing a fifth of all of the planet's fresh water.

We've just stopped because the drivers are having, um,

a cup or two of vodka...

and, um, this is unlike anything I've ever seen before.

This is solid ice, and if you look through it,

it's perfectly clear,

you can see the bed, right there, and all the rocks.

It's incredible!

'It's a gruelling two-hour journey to the first trap.'

This looks a lot more fun than it feels! Ah!

Oi!

This is the moment when we venture out into the, er,

into the unknown to try and check those traps

and see what we can find.

'It's a tough life being a fur trapper.

'If Vadim doesn't catch a sable, then his family doesn't eat.'

HE SPEAKS IN RUSSIAN

Vadim uses spring-loaded traps,

especially designed not to damage the fur.

You can't even see the trap itself,

he's put on a piece of paper over it and, um,

re-covered the whole area with snow

so there's no way of knowing there's anything in there,

so in theory this is the perfect set-up to get a sable.

All right, so the trap's empty.

I take it we're going to go on and see if we can find any others,

but why exactly do you have a gun on your back?

Good! Do you want to lead the way, Mr Gunman?

All right.

This just gets better and better, doesn't it?

There it is.

What do we think, Vadim?

You're making me jump! THEY LAUGH

So this is what everybody's searching for?

The sable is a small carnivore related to the ferret.

Once trapped, it freezes to death in a couple of hours.

I'm wearing gloves, but I can feel just how beautiful this fur is.

It's quite hard to get my head around, that this is worth so much

and as well as that, this will become something that will be,

that will be coveted and loved somewhere halfway around the world.

Vadim's definitely pleased,

he's having a celebratory cigarette over there, he's enjoying himself!

Vadim, what quality is this skin? Just how valuable is this?

Less than 100 doesn't really seem like a lot of money

when you think how much a sable coat will eventually sell for.

Is your wife going to be happy that we're returning home with something?

With just an hour of light left,

it's definitely time to get out of the cold.

It's not looking too great. The, um...

Ski-Doo in front of me has just crashed.

I think it smashed its lights as well.

"Come to Siberia," they said.

"There'll be adventure," they said.

Work-out, more like.

'After a long day, we finally reach Vadim's hunting cabin.'

This is where we sleep.

It's one of those moments where you realise

how much of a man you aren't.

I'd love to help, but, um, probably only going to slow 'em down.

Maybe I could do some carrying, that would be good. Shall I help carry?

Shall we take some inside? Yeah?

The sable is left to gently thaw overnight.

OK, so what's the, what's the nail in the string for?

I've actually owned one coat with a fur collar before.

I at no point

really sort of considered

where that little bit of fur had come from.

A lot of people in the West will probably be shocked

by watching this footage and watching this process.

Do you think it's ridiculous that people are surprised or,

or shocked by what it is you're doing?

That's the last bit now, that's the head just coming off.

Rrr!

So, this is it. This is the world-famous sable skin,

this is what people all over the world are paying top dollar for now.

When you just sort of focus on this, the fur, it's pretty spectacular.

But the minute you pull out

and sort of take into account the process

and what Vadim's just thrown out the door,

which is actually the carcass,

this is a very surreal 25 minutes of my life.

One and two.

Lot seven, er...

Er, 60, 60. Yes, 60...

So how does a fur pelt that Vadim sells for 80

end up as part of a coat costing one million Euros?

I'm back in St Petersburg with fur fashion designer Igor.

He's bought me to the annual fur auction.

This is where people start making big money.

56, I'm in. 56...

And is it always this international?

-Because there's people from the UK, people from China.

-China...

-There's Russians...

-Italian and Greek.

Ah, ah!

-I've been coming here since I'm 18.

-Right.

Born and bred in Brixton.

What is so special about Russian sable, then?

-It's a very, very special article.

-Yeah?

-It's just wonderful.

-Yeah?

-It's wonderful.

They've got an offering here of 260,000 skins

and they're 100% sold.

Er, lot 44, 44...

'Nearly 20 million will be spent on sable at this auction alone.'

It seems some of the biggest brands are literally fighting each other

to get the best furs.

And it's getting quite rowdy.

-Up!

-Up!

-Up now!

Up!

-Up!

-Up!

Up!

76. 76, 78...

This is the only auction in the world where you can buy wild sable.

82 upstairs, 82.

No!

He dropped!

-He dropped.

-He didn't drop...

'With the argument raging,

'I decide to go backstage and see what all the fuss is about.'

The scale of this is just jaw-dropping.

I've never seen anything like this before.

It just sort of brings it home, the size of this industry.

People are buying a lot of these animals because it takes 40,

40 of these to make one coat.

But that room over there,

with around a quarter of a million of them,

it is just unbelievable.

The sable at the auction are mostly trapped in the wild.

But there's another side to the Russian fur industry.

This is a fur farm on the outskirts of Siberia's

second-biggest city, Irkutsk.

Morning.

-Reggie, nice to meet you. Are you Victor?

-Victor.

Nice to meet you. Nice to meet you.

'The farm's manager and his outstanding sable hat

'have agreed to show me around.'

What am I walking into here? This is, this is huge.

Over 80% of the world's fur is produced in farms.

Wow.

There's so many of them. They're jumping all over the place.

They're cartwheeling, they're flipping,

they're bouncing about the cages.

Um...

They don't look that happy to me.

These animals seem desperate to escape.

Is there a reason for them to behave like this?

Are these cages big enough for that?

SABLE GROWLS

Unlike some other animals, captive breeding of sable is difficult,

but the possible rewards mean Victor is persevering.

This is huge...

Sable is just one part of this huge operation.

So what do we have in these cages outside?

HE SPEAKS IN RUSSIAN

Now these guys are almost three times the size of the sable,

but the cages are the same size.

Is there a reason for that?

And they seem to be moving the same way as the sable. Why is that?

These animals are clearly in a state of distress.

In your opinion, do you think the consumer

cares where the fur comes from?

The main fur being produced here is mink.

They're related to sable, but they're much easier to breed

and they've been farmed for generations around the world.

Is this mink? That one?

So this shed and all of the sheds before it

are absolutely huge - they go on forever.

The farm produces around 70,000 pelts a year.

They'll get 15 euros for each one.

There are around 70 fur farms in Russia.

And this isn't even one of the biggest.

Two million.

But Victor has one more surprise for me.

THEY CONVERSE IN RUSSIAN

What is this?

Why...why do you have a lynx here?

I remembered seeing a lynx coat back in Igor's boutique.

He told me not to think about the animal,

just the beauty of the fur.

To see one in those conditions is...

It's heartbreaking.

It's in a tiny cage, no bigger than this,

and it is just going up and down with crazy eyes,

and it is trampling over its own waste.

It just really doesn't sit well with me at all.

My understanding of fur has always been one thing,

and that is, you know, you see a fur coat,

you imagine that it's come from some hunter in the wild,

you know, a pack of guys going out with guns

and returning with animals over their shoulder.

That's the way I've always understood the process to work.

But we are talking millions of furs coming from farms.

That means that millions of animals are in cages.

That means that millions of animals are being raised

to be skinned to make a coat.

I don't know. It's just really unsettling

that these animals are being kept in conditions

where they are quite clearly distressed

for their entire life.

MINK BARKS AND GROWLS

I'm not saying I'm going to go and join animal rights

when I leave here, but I definitely am feeling

a shift in my attitude towards fur, definitely.

The sheer scale of fur farming makes me think

that the demand for fur has gone way beyond the super-rich.

Back in London, I am starting to see fur everywhere.

It's...quite hard to ignore the fact

that so many people have some sort of fur,

on their coat or on their person some way,

be that real or faux.

It's everywhere. I just watch people walking by

and they have fur trim on their hoods, their gloves...

Even after all the animal rights activists,

it's still seen as appealing.

-Yeah.

-And pretty.

So, how do the tastes of the super-rich

spread to us mere mortals?

You have the high-end, the luxury fashion,

that sets the trends and it trickles down

to fast fashion, high-street shops.

Fendi and other companies have put out these little pom-poms,

just clip them onto your coat or your bag or whatever.

-It is an entry-level product.

-Right.

# I-I-I-I-I I like you very much... #

But even these entry-level products

go for around £300.

The real trick has been getting younger people to want to buy fur.

Younger consumers are definitely less stigmatised or wary

of buying and wearing fur.

The fur companies are sponsoring competitions in schools

and providing the fur to teach students how to use it.

Ten years ago, 50 or 60 designers used fur in their collections.

Today, it is about 400 to 500.

-Is that faux or is it real?

-It's faux fur.

Would you ever wear real fur?

Yeah, no, I have no problem with wearing real fur.

If you don't mind me asking, how old are you?

I'm 23.

I think that you get to a stage where people are like,

-"Oh, well, going to start wearing it again."

-Yeah.

They just want to be fashionable

and if that is the look of the moment,

that's what it is, and that's why these designers

have such great power,

because that look permeates our entire culture.

This high-street revival means that the industry has to source

more and more fur at rock-bottom prices.

A lot of it is produced in even worse conditions

than what I saw in Russia.

China is the world's biggest supplier of cheap fur.

It is often so cheap, it costs less than the fake stuff.

But fur is only part of the story.

London is now at the heart of the global network of designers

who see animal products as the key

to unlocking the super-rich's wallet.

And there is one man who knows better than most how to do it.

-Ethan.

-Hi, good afternoon.

-Reg.

-How are you?

Yeah, really good, really good. Thank you for having me.

I am entering the magical world of Ethan Koh,

a Singaporean designer of bespoke, handcrafted, luxury handbags.

Crocodile skins are just like diamonds

and they are extremely precious.

The attention to detail is paramount.

You know, every bag has a special feature,

so this is an interesting trap door.

We recently had a customer who recently did a count of my pieces

and she came up with 62.

-OK.

-This is £3,000.

And, obviously, range up to £25,000.

The Australian saltwater crocodile is one of the most expensive -

like this one here -

because the scales on the side are very small and round,

just like diamonds,

and especially for a woman's handbag,

to use a skin like this, it makes the bag shinier and better

and the effect is beautiful.

Ethan's bags are sold in some of the most exclusive stores in the world,

but a select few customers get a bag designed personally for them.

So, what is it that qualifies a client to sit with you

and design a bag, face to face?

Of course, we never recommend the bespoke service

to someone that has never appreciated or acquired

any of our basic pieces in the collection.

Well, if that is the case, be honest -

how many bags have I got to buy to get here with you?

I really feel that you should have around three of these bags...

Three...? You've got to buy three bags before you get in?

Yeah, and I think maybe you should get, like,

two colours of each, right?

-Then you know our service better.

-LAUGHING: Yeah.

My bank would definitely know more about the brand, that's for sure.

And then, we will have a bag maybe named after you.

REGGIE LAUGHS

The saltwater crocodile is one of the world's greatest predators.

I have come to its home in northern Australia

and this is the farm where they are bred.

Here, they raise, kill and skin thousands of crocs every year.

'Charlie is one of the croc handlers.'

OK, Reggie...

-Now, our male is in that back pond.

-Yeah.

So the best place for us...

REGGIE LAUGHS NERVOUSLY

-..is inside?

-After you.

-CHARLIE LAUGHS

-No, I'll go first.

-You are seriously going in there?

-I'm seriously going in there.

'Today, Charlie and his team are trying to catch

'one of their big males, called Eric.'

And then our challenge is to get that rope over his top jaw.

So, when you are ready, boys.

Oh, oh, oh...

And, of course, the death roll.

-And as long as...

-I was about to sprint there, Charlie.

As long as Ken doesn't let go of the rope, we are fine.

Don't let go of the rope!

So, if I came into contact with this guy in the wild,

what do you think would happen to me?

If you're swimming in any river or billabong in the top end,

and you came across him, and he grabbed you,

you would have a 0% chance of survival.

Today is a big day for Eric - as a prize breeder,

he is about to be introduced to a new female.

One, two, three...

But before he is introduced to his new mate,

his jaws have been taped up so he doesn't eat her.

It's the croc version of safe sex.

Just use your pole.

He's poking it with a stick.

What is...? What is going on?

Go.

Ready? Go.

Eric was born in the wild.

He was brought here after being suspected of killing two people.

The only thing that is stopping it from running at me,

and everyone else,

is a bit of old sack covering its eyes.

Eric is too old and too scarred for his skin to be used as a handbag,

but he is great for breeding.

But they do need to tape his mouth up,

to stop them from killing the female that will be put in the enclosure.

So he can't actually bite her head off. Literally.

God help that female.

They're going to be living together for the next few weeks.

But most baby crocs still come from eggs collected in the wild

and Charlie is taking me with him.

This is what's going to protect me!

Just in case a croc attacks.

Whatever happened to something sharp?

This is it. We're off to go and get some crocodile eggs.

Fingers crossed I don't run into Momma Crocodile.

40 years ago, crocs were hunted in the wild for their skins,

so much so they nearly became extinct.

This is unreal.

Look at it!

Since then, strict controls on hunting have meant that croc farms

have taken over supplying skins to the fashion industry.

The wild population is now back to full strength.

We're just going to have a quick look out here at this new area.

Landowners protect the crocs' habitat

because they make money from each egg that is collected.

There are nests everywhere.

OK, here's one. A new one.

What am I looking for?

They're like a mound of vegetation.

The female rakes up this vegetation into a mound

and then she lays the eggs inside it.

What we want to do is I'm going to drop some tape on this

so that when we're on the ground, we can actually locate it.

Charlie and the farmer are protecting the world croc population

by finding and buying the eggs.

So what's the plan when we finally touch down?

We're going to be very, very careful.

Strike while the iron is hot, Reggie.

Here goes nothing.

Maybe not the best start.

And suddenly we're alone.

Let me get this straight, the helicopter's gone

and it's just you, me, these paddles,

a nest with about 50-odd eggs in it

and the mother of those eggs somewhere near here.

Yes.

In a word, yes.

She's here somewhere.

She'll always stay near her nest, either at it or in the vicinity,

and I think you might have seen a little trail that goes

-into that nest that we just tagged.

-Yeah.

And that's her.

I can see the trail where she's been. Look at that!

Can you see it? Right there!

We're going to avoid that little...

Yes, we are.

We're definitely going to avoid that trail.

Look, a four and five-metre-size crocodile can hide

in about half a metre of water,

so we've just got to be careful.

You don't find this in England.

No.

This is all I've got to defend myself.

What am I doing?

What am I doing? What am I doing? What am I doing?

What am I doing? What am I doing here?

What am I doing?

What am I doing?

The other members of the crew arrive

and I'm beginning to feel slightly more reassured.

One of the team is Giovanna,

a croc scientist who's also co-owner of the farm.

So, a couple of months ago,

I was asked to get involved with a programme about fashion.

This is true fashion, darling.

Do you really believe that?

Yeah?

Do you see yourself intrinsically connected to fashion, then?

It's a real sort of strange place to have a realisation,

but it appears that, if people don't buy the handbags,

technically the crocs die out.

The challenge is - how do we make sure that trade is good,

that it's managed, sustainable

and doesn't lead to the decline of the species?

That's the challenge for us as researchers and managers

and I think we've done it here in Australia, certainly,

because we've got more than enough crocodiles.

There's a track leading up to the nest as well.

We need to be careful

because that means that Momma Croc has been here recently.

We can see where she's been laying,

so you get that groove across the top.

The tail, where she's laid across the nest.

What we've got to watch out for is for the water over here.

We want to keep an eye on that

just in case she's around and she decide she's going to come up.

-Here, you see? Could be just here.

-She's just trying to freak me out.

Why are you poking it? If she's there, what are you doing?

Stop poking it, you crazy person!

You're on guard. Ah-ha!

-We've got eggs?

-We have eggs.

Here we go. Beautiful!

Look at that, it's full of eggs. Look at it!

Every time I come to the swamp and I find a new nest,

it's like giving birth over and over again.

-50 times in one!

-That's it.

This is the highlight of my job. Really.

I can't help but notice the amount of eggs

that are actually coming out of the nest.

By taking that many eggs from the wild,

does it deplete the population?

Not in the slightest.

In fact, because our crocodile populations are now so big -

they're back to pristine levels -

even if we allowed all these to hatch, they would die,

because the bigger crocodiles are going to kill them.

This is really what's driving conservation now,

is the ability to have these eggs, sell them.

Yeah, they're dangerous animals

and the best way to really conserve

a big, dangerous predator like saltwater crocodiles

is to make them economically valuable in some way.

With Momma Crocodile due back any minute,

I think we've overstayed our welcome.

OK, that's our chopper.

Time to go?

This is incredible.

Back at the farm, the eggs will be put into incubators.

They're kept at a specific temperature

so they'll develop into males.

It's feeding time.

These little guys will one day end up as bags.

Will some of these big brands not take the skin

if it's got a scratch on it?

They only breed males because they grow much faster.

They're killed when they're four years old.

That's when their belly skin is wide enough.

It takes two animals to make one handbag.

The farm gets about 1,000 per croc.

Many crocodile farmers around the world

have poor animal welfare standards

and an unsustainable approach to how many they take from the wild.

But from what I've seen in Australia,

farming allows large numbers of crocs

to live out their lives in their natural habitat.

-OK, so we're heading into the incubator.

-OK.

-We have about 1,100 eggs at the moment.

-1,100.

We're just in time for the first hatchlings of the season.

So typically what are the crocs like

-the minute they get out of those eggs? Are they...

-You will find out.

Right, well, they're definitely inquisitive.

-Are they aggressive at all?

-Yeah. Yes.

As soon as they hatch, straight away they latch to your finger.

-They have very sharp little teeth.

-Right.

So we're going just to help him just to come out.

This is very much like a scene in Jurassic Park.

Absolutely.

I'm shaking, I'm so scared I'm going to hurt the thing.

-Oh!

-It's all right! It's all right!

It's OK!

It's OK. It's all right.

It got me! Look! It properly bit me!

Sorry, mate.

-Welcome to the world! It's cool out here.

-That's right.

Fresh out of the shell, they are cute but they do bite,

and I can tell you that first-hand.

Giovanna and her team are doing everything they can

to save these once-endangered animals.

This is the happy time. Happy time for us.

This is gorgeous.

Giovanna and Charlie are essentially conservationists

and they are doing whatever it takes to ensure that crocodiles survive

and that they stay a part of this ecosystem.

Look at that! Boom!

I've seen it first-hand.

Crocodiles are still here in this part of Australia

because of businesses like this.

With such an insatiable appetite for croc skin,

it's driven a fashion boom for all things exotic.

Jay, how you doing, man? You all right?

I'm meeting with an old friend of mine, Jay,

who owns a huge sneaker accessory brand

and has borrowed a pair of trainers

that you certainly couldn't get on the high street.

These are the Nike Air Jordan 1s, dubbed the Brooklyn Zoos.

The trainers are not made by Nike

but have been specially customised for the luxury market.

Literally, on the inside, you've got "pair seven of ten."

There literally are only ten pairs of these.

How much are these selling for?

At the moment, you can get them from anywhere between 10 and 20 grand.

There's nine different skins.

-Nine different animals?

-Nine different animals on this shoe.

But what is it about animal skin specifically

-that people love so much?

-It's the luxury element of it.

It's the exclusiveness of it, do you get what I'm saying?

It's like, "You can't have these," or, "You'd better be prepared

"to part with some serious money to be able to get these."

It's that bragging right, you know?

What is it that made the shoes so famous?

When Jay Z wore them at the Nets game.

If you've got a pair of these you're in a very special club, you know?

And is that club the epitome of luxury, then?

Yeah. I would say so.

You have a stingray.

You've got lizard on the tongue.

-You've got elephant on the side.

-What? Hang on.

-Elephant skin is something you don't hear...

-This is it.

I've never seen that before with a shoe, either.

You've got boa on there, you've got crocodile.

You have ostrich on the side here. Python.

Much of the world's python skin comes from Indonesia.

Indonesia makes up 2% of the Earth's land

but its rich jungles provide the fashion industry

with over 14% of its exotic skins.

Many of them come from the island of Java.

-Dian?

-Reggie?

-Reggie. Nice to meet you.

Thank you for having me. Shall we make a move?

Dian is a local wildlife photographer

who's going to take me to a python hunter.

Look at the state of this face. Look.

That's the face of someone who isn't looking forward to meeting pythons.

Look at this. Everyone's out. Hello.

Our snake catcher is called Ahmed.

This is our guy. Hello.

Hello!

He provides for his family by catching pythons in the wild

and selling them.

Are you the only person in your family that catches snakes?

-This is Dad, right?

-Yes.

-OK.

Have you ever been bitten?

Oh, let's see.

-Cobra.

-A cobra? Wow.

With that in mind, it's time to go hunting.

And we're not the only hunters on the way to Snake Central.

So, is this what they're actually going to put the snakes in?

How are you supposed to get that around the snake?

Ah! Sneaky!

And we're off.

Doesn't look like the bus driver's waiting around.

We've got to literally scarper to get on.

This is a bit tight, isn't it?

And there's a whole bunch of snake catchers everywhere.

One hour later, the hunt begins.

They're already looking in the bushes now.

The snake we're looking for is called a reticulated python.

It can grow up to eight metres long.

It kills by squeezing things to death.

It's immensely strong.

And the only bit of self-defence I've got is a torch.

So they're following the river bank.

If they find a hole, it's a snake's house.

OK.

He's taken his shoes off.

Surely that can't be the smartest idea.

Should be telling Dian.

Watch your step.

REGGIE GASPS

He just caught it with his bare hands.

Look at that!

You just caught it with your hands! Why are you laughing?

This is insane! How long is this?

Oh, man, it's wrapping around me, look!

It's got me!

Oh, my God!

This is mad. Look at that!

-So, is this a good one, then?

-Yes.

How much do you think this is going to be worth?

25.

Whoa!

'And it's not just snakes they're hunting.'

And how many of those would you catch in a night?

Well, you guys are just...

You're catching everything here.

'If these guys are doing this every night,

'I'm surprised there's anything left.'

They might have found another snake.

Yeah, there we go.

What sort of snake is this? Is it another python?

Wow, it's absolutely gorgeous.

So this is the skin that they're all paying the money for, right?

Look at that, it's beautiful.

No, let's just get it in the barrel.

Get it in the barrel.

Head-first? God, I forget there's another one in there already.

You know, when you look at the skin and you look at the colour of it,

and you look at how beautiful it is, and how individual

each section of this is, you can understand why people want it.

You can understand why people are catching them,

and why these designer labels are putting them all over their bags.

But...it's a living creature.

You know, this is...

This is a creature that was minding its own business ten minutes ago,

and now, suddenly, the beginning of its journey to becoming

somebody's purse begins right here.

'And it's just a tiny part of a billion-dollar trade.'

The next morning, we arranged to meet Ahmed.

The locals call this place Snake Village.

-HORN BEEPS

-Hey.

'He's brought in last night's catch.'

I know that face, hello.

How you doing? All of you fit on this one little bike?

It's unbelievable.

And what's in there?

So, how many of these pythons are actually still alive?

You've got three in there?

'All of the animals taken from the nearby jungle are brought here.'

Oh, man.

Looks like the work's all happening in here.

Is that frogs? I didn't even realise!

There's tons of them getting stripped.

Cut into pieces and what looks like being cleaned for cooking, I guess.

That's a lot of frogs.

-Is that snake skins?

-Yes.

It is? So many of them.

Oh, my goodness, look at this...

'The owner of this factory is Jamari.'

Hey. Hello, Reggie. Nice to meet you.

Wow, what are these? Are these python skins?

And how long ago were these brought to you?

And how many days has this been out in the sun?

Just five hours? Right.

It's really strange seeing the skins at this stage of the process

because right now, they just feel a million miles away

from the animals that we caught last night.

This just feels like bits of paper.

And look at that, he's just folding up a huge python.

That's like...three or four pythons in an elastic band.

'Ahmed will get paid per metre for his three pythons.

'So Jamari needs to measure up.'

I've never seen anything like this before in my life.

I mean, he's literally just grabbing the snake by its neck

so he can stretch it out to measure it.

Three metres precisely.

'Any mark on the skin decreases how much the big brands will pay.'

He's got a live python in his hand, and he's not even thinking about it.

This, I guess, is really normal for him.

Whoa.

Look at the colour on this.

Whoa!

THEY LAUGH

This one's a tricky one.

-Did he just nearly bite you?

-Yes.

3.5 metres.

It's big.

Ahmed will get around 80 for last night's catch.

This gets shared with the other hunters.

But once skins are turned into even the smallest luxury items,

their value can increase massively.

'For Ahmed, it's the end of his involvement.

'But there are thousands of hunters like him all over Indonesia.'

-It looks like there's another seller here now.

-Oh, yeah.

Look at how many he's got!

Wow.

'The amount of animals that are being brought in is staggering.'

And there's more. No way!

So we've got two pythons,

and then lots of smaller snakes.

In any other circumstance, I'd help you carry them in.

Why is he so confident that the cobra's not going to bite him,

even though he's smacking it?

'Moving on from the sideshow,

'I ask if they've noticed a drop in numbers in the jungle.'

Is there actually a cap for the amount of snakes

that can come through his business per month, or per year?

And once you've got a licence,

you can take as many animals as you want?

'Smaller snakes and other reptiles aren't skinned for their skin,

'but for their meat, which demands high prices once it reaches China.'

Oh, my goodness...

It's another thing to add to my "I've never seen before" list.

There's buckets full of snake meat,

and what looks like smashed-up frog meat all in one big bucket.

And then there are vats of snakes being cooked.

'Now the time has come to slaughter last night's snakes.'

I don't really want to walk through the door,

because on the other side of the door is a bit of the process

that I'm yet to see. And it's happening now.

So, erm...

Do you know what? I'm not going to lie to you guys.

Everybody behind the camera right now is going, "Go in, go in!"

But everything inside me is saying, "Stay right here!"

Come on, then. Come on.

Oh, my God...

All right, so, the snake is fighting for its life, literally,

right now, while the killer just grabs it, holds it still and...

AIR HISSES

..gives it a poke up the nose, and that's it.

It's like there's this weird popping noise

when it finally gets all the way in and...

The minute you hear it, it just stops fighting.

That, to me, really, really isn't humane at all.

Oh.

It's awful.

So he's just pulled this hose out.

I thought he was washing the snake down, but he's just put the hose in the snake's mouth.

So the snake that's just been killed is now being filled with water. Why is that?

Look, it's still moving. Why is that?

It's not alive, but the nerve system is still working.

Look at that. Look how much it's moving.

'The snake's slow metabolism means that nerves may react

'long past slaughter.'

'It's hard to say 100% that the snake doesn't feel any pain.'

Seeing a snake be killed by a long piece of metal through its nose...

If it doesn't put you off, there's something wrong with you.

'The pythons are now left full of water for a couple of hours,

'and then skinned.'

This has to be one of the most shocking things

I think I've ever seen.

It's time to leave Snake Village.

It's been an eye-opening few hours.

The way the snakes are killed is brutal.

But I was also struck by how many were being taken from the wild.

And there must be hundreds of other villages

just like this all over the country.

Whoa.

Oh, my God.

'There is now a fierce argument between wildlife experts

'over whether there are enough wild pythons

'to sustain the huge amount being caught, killed,

'skinned and exported.'

'To find out for myself,

'I've come to the capital of Indonesia, Jakarta,

'to meet wildlife expert Kintan in the city's pet markets.'

Look at the size of this place.

It just goes and goes, doesn't it?

Yep, the Jatinegara Market is one of the biggest

and also one of the most notorious markets in Jakarta.

-There's primates down there, there's monkeys.

-Yes.

They know it's not supposed to be for sale.

Do the police actually ever get involved?

Unfortunately, that's not something that they regularly do.

In your opinion, then,

where would you say the majority of these animals are being taken from?

95% of the animals being traded are caught from the wild.

Kintan is particularly concerned

over how Indonesia's python population

is currently being threatened.

Indonesia has a quota of 175,000 for hunted pythons.

It's regulated under the Convention

on International Trade In Endangered Species, or CITIES.

But we don't have the mechanism to kind of trace that regulation

and enforce it.

So they have a quota,

but there are concerns over how adequate the policing really is.

In certain places, you cannot find these any more in the wild.

They used to be there in abundance.

-No way?

-Yeah.

-So, that many have been taken you can't just...

You literally can't find them?

They're essentially extinct in that area?

The problem is the illegal trade is so rampant there's probably

as much illegal pythons being caught as there are legal,

or under the quota.

There's just this massive grey area and there's no way

of knowing for sure where these animals are coming from.

Therefore, it's really hard to claim complete sustainability on a product

made from snakeskin.

It's a very bleak picture for Indonesian wildlife.

Yeah.

That's really sad.

Really sad.

It really feels as though there are no rules here.

You know, this is the Wild West of animal sale.

Because these animals predominantly aren't coming from farms.

They're being caught in the wild and sold on for a profit.

Not a great profit, at that.

Education needs to be put in place because it's not a bottomless pit.

These animals won't be here forever if there isn't regulation.

If we don't know how many animals are being taken and regulate that,

things are only going to go downhill.

Back in the UK,

I've had some time to think about what I've seen.

Once upon a time, fur and exotic skins were just for the rich.

But it seems now everyone's at it.

You walk down a high street here in London

and every window has something that resembles, or is a cheap,

knock-off version of a snakeskin, a python skin, or a bit of fur.

We spend billions on faux fur and other fake animal items.

But some of these cheap copies

are actually made out of low-grade real fur, and real skins.

So the message is really simple.

I'm not judging you, but do the research.

And I am saying that to myself as well,

because from this point forward I'm not going to do that any more.

And what about those with a bit more money to spend on the real thing?

I think we should all be asking ourselves,

this fur and these skins that we buy, are they sustainable?

Because if they're not and you're still spending your money on it,

that's irresponsible.