Victoria Beckham may have never visited Australia, but some days she carries a little piece of the Outback on her arm in the form of her black crocodile skin Hermes handbag.

The former Spice Girl is one of many celebrities who own the highly sought after (and expensive) Hermes bags made from exotic crocodile skin – most of which is sourced from farms in northern Australia.

Every year thousands of saltwater crocodiles are bred on farms in Queensland and the Northern Territory for the purpose of exporting their skin to Paris to be transformed into one the world’s most sought after accessories.

Hermes chief executive Patrick Thomas admitted this week his French fashion house has resorted to farming crocodiles in Australia to keep up with the increasing international demand for their world famous crocodile skin handbags, including the popular Birkin design.

“It can take three to four crocodiles to make one of our bags so we are now breeding our own crocodiles on our own farms, mainly in Australia,” Mr Thomas said in Paris.

He said Hermes produces 3,000 crocodile skin bags a year, some of which – such as the shiny black Birkin owned by Beckham, who has an enormous collection of Hermes bags – can fetch over £30,000. The handbags are so popular thousands of people wait years on waiting lists to receive one.

“We cannot face demand,” said Mr Thomas. “We have massive over-demand. We are limited by our ability to train new craftsmen.”

Australian crocodiles usually make headlines for their fatal attacks – four people have been killed over the past nine months - however the enormous reptiles are known in the fashion industry as providers of some of the best skins in the world for the high quality products.

The animals are bred on a number of farms in Australia, including the Darwin Crocodile Farm in the Northern Territory, which currently houses 60,000 of the Crocodylus porosus species – the saltwater crocodile most commonly found in northern Australia.

The farm’s managing director Mick Burns would not confirm whether their crocodile skins are bought by Hermes, however he said his farm exports 12,000 skins overseas every year.

“We sell all of our skins to European fashion houses,” Mr Burns told The Times. “Australian crocodiles are recognised as the best in the world ... but they are the most aggressive, so they are also the hardest to farm.”

He said the Crocodylus porosus species is considered among the best of the international reptile population to use for luxury goods because of their texture, scale and pattern. Like human fingerprints, every saltwater crocodile has an individual pattern which means adds more value to every unique, expertly crafted handbag.

Mr Burns would not divulge how much the crocodile skins are worth but said his farm has been exporting the exotic skins – which usually come from crocodiles aged about four and measuring approximately six feet long - overseas for at least two decades.

While there are many different designs of Hermes handbags which are made from different types of leather, the crocodile skin variety are among the most expensive.

“The top-level fashion houses are very selective, so they use only a small percentage of the belly skin to make their famous bags,” Mr Burns said.

Animal activist group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals has called for an end to the usage of crocodile skin in fashion.

“The thought of purposely breeding and killing crocodiles for an outdated, overpriced handbag should make fashionista’s skin crawl,” Peta vice president Dan Mathews said. “If Hermes really wants to be a leader in the fashion industry, it should stop killing animals for cold-blooded vanity and use cruelty-free mock crock and fake snake instead.”

Hermes’ Australian managing director Karin Upton Baker said the number of crocodile handbags produced by the company represents less than four per cent of their handbag business. She added: “All the crocodile skins we use come from farms that are fully compliant with regulation.”

Hermes' leather goods, which account for 40 percent of its business, have been the most robust in the current economic downturn, according to Mr Thomas, who said the company is employing up to 100 leather workers this year to add to the 2,000 craftsmen it already employs at French sites.

Mr Thomas said while the group has been pushing other areas of the business, so it is not so reliant on leather bags, this area continues to be its fastest-growing product line.

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