This morning we received an astounding video from a group of animal right activists that broke in at Rayfish Footwear, the Thai based fashion brand that creates $1500 personalized sneakers from genetically engineered stingray leather.


The amateur recording (turn volume down before playing) shows the anonymized activists plundering the fish breeding facility of the company, while 'rescuing' the stingrays. At the end of the video the fish are released in the ocean.


Rayfish.com was launched some months ago with a contest that invited people to design their own stingray patterns. The most beautiful designs where grown on the skins of the transgenic fish and turned into personalized stingray leather shoes. Some of the happy winners had already received their pair of Snaketongue, Flamingo Zebra or Golden Dalmatian shoes.


Earlier its CEO Raymond Ong gave a lecture at our Next Nature Power Show in which he unfolded his groundbreaking biocustomization technique. Although there where many enthusiastic responses there was also much controversy around the company. Seems some of the hard core protesters now decided to take action.


We have tried to contact Rayfish Footwear to confirm the robbery, but haven't been able to reach them. At this moment there is no mentioning of the break-in on the Rayfish blog, nor on their Facebook, or Twitter pages. To be continued...


UPDATE: Rayfish confirms the break-in and released a video statement.

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5 comments

  • I agree with it being a hoax/marketing stunt/student project.

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  • http://www.livescience.com/20705-transgenic-stingray-shoes-fake.html The video of the animal activists seems highly produced and scripted. The statement by the CEO similarly seems of the same production quality and somewhat tongue in cheek. My guess is they are both part of a PR stunt by the company to add legitimacy to their claims about their shoes.

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  • Hi Patrick. We are going off this blog post on the company's website. http://rayfish.com/index.php?chapter=blog#pattern_engine We are not experts, but it seemed convincing to us. Can you clarify your comment about this not being healthy for the GMO debate?

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  • You do realize all of this is completely, 100% bogus, right? This sort of genetic modification is impossible with today's technology. I'm not sure whether you're just perpetuating a hoax, or initiating it. Either way, I don't think this kind of sensationalism is healty for the debate around GMO's.

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  • Whether or not it is moral for Rayfish Footwear to genetically engineer animals for fashion and profit is debatable. Yet the fact that releasing these organisms to breed in the wild is the most stupid thing these activists could have done is definitely not.

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