Florida solves invasive python problem by…
Shopping will now save the planet.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis announced this week that the state is taking an uncharacteristically stylish strategy to tackling one of its most infamous ecological threats — the invasive Burmese python — by actually turning the problem into luxurious fashion.
The Sunshine State is renewing its efforts to take away the apex predators from the Everglades, because they’re recognized to devastate native wildlife populations and remodel them into fashionable fashion equipment through a new partnership between the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) and Miami-based textiles producer, Inversa.
This week, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis gave updates on the state authorities’s partnership with Miami-based textiles producer Inversa. CRYSTAL VANDER WEIT/TCPALM / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
In an period when fashion powerhouses like Chanel and Burberry are banning unique leathers amid animal welfare issues, Inversa‘s model is a component of a paradigm shift.
Instead of relying on farming or unlawful looking, the company turns damaging invasive species into what CEO of Inversa Aarav Chavda calls “ethical exotics.”
Burmese pythons had been first launched to Florida in the Seventies through the unlawful pet commerce, and once they had been launched into the wild, they rapidly established breeding populations in the Everglades. And that’s where they turned a hated predator.
“These things will take out a deer,” DeSantis said, according to WESH. “It’s unbelievable what they’re able to do. A single python can threaten the survival of many endangered species.”
For some time, Florida python pores and skin has been reworked into luxurious merchandise, in an effort to save the Everglades, just like the Damascus Cuff with Python Inlay that retails for $1,095, for manufacturers like Chris Ploof and Rex Shoes.
However, the state’s partnership with Inversa is a big deal.
The company began working with the Sunshine State back in 2024 — and they’ve accomplished unbelievable work ever since. Between May and July 2025, 1,022 pythons had been eliminated — practically triple the quantity caught during the same period in 2024.
“The new program accomplished more removals in July 2025 alone than in the entire year before,” DeSantis said in a assertion.
The company is doing great issues for Florida’s Everglades. CRYSTAL VANDER WEIT/TCPALM / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
Inversa, which was began in 2020, doesn’t just course of the python hides — the company also contracts roughly 50 skilled python hunters who beforehand labored under the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC), successfully creating its own fleet of discipline specialists.
According to the company, each python disguise helps defend up to 460 native animals that a single 13-foot python would in any other case devour in its lifetime, while bettering the survival probabilities of 39 endangered species.
“Inversa’s priority with this public-private partnership is to remove as many pythons as possible while defraying the taxpayer’s burden, who, without the help of the fashion industry, would front 100% of the cost of removals and management,” Henri Ferré, Inversa’s head of development, told The Post.
Inversa now contracts roughly 50 skilled Python hunters who beforehand labored under the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC), successfully creating its own fleet of discipline specialists, and then sells the supplies to designers. Inverse Leathers
It’s a win-win for both the state of Florida and people’s closets.
Inversa’s Florida python clothes have already hit the runway, with fashions in the Gabriela Hearst and KHAITE 2025 fall exhibits slithering down the catwalk in python jackets, purses and more.
Hearst — who’s recognized for her sustainable and ethically produced designs — was one of the first manufacturers to deliver Inversa to the runway, calling the company a “game-changer” in an interview with Vogue last fall.
Inversa’s python clothes have already hit the runway, with fashions in the Gabriela Hearst 2025 fall show slithering down the catwalk in python jackets, purses and more. Inverse Leathers
The state’s partnership with Inversa has not only boosted elimination numbers and enhanced people’s wardrobes, but it’s also diminished the FWC’s administrative workload by 89% and elevated python hunters’ pay by about 60%, according to the governor’s workplace.
Inversa‘s model is a component of a paradigm shift. w.kleinberg
Ferré famous that “increasing hunter pay by leveraging the fashion sector has led to a significant increase in removals” and shared that Inversa has discovered that fashion manufacturers are searching for out these sorts of supplies to meet their sustainability objectives.
FWC Chairman Rodney Barreto said, “Our partnership with Inversa and the Python Action Team Removing Invasive Constrictors (PATRIC) program highlights the milestones we’ve achieved against the invasive Burmese Python, which will benefit generations to come.”
“It’s been a pleasant surprise to see the progress,” DeSantis said, including, “I will tell you some of the stuff is very fashionable.”
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