I didn’t take much convincing for me to try almost every bag in this chaotic little store, The Bangkok Bootery, in Bangtao Beach in Phuket, lucky for me i’m not intimidated by giant crocodiles with fierce teeth! Almost every inch of the floor was covered in shoe boxes with shoes on top, the wall shelves filled with clutch handbags, hangers with croc skin and Python skin jackets and loads of crocodile skins – head and all – hung upside down on the ceiling.

Farming crocodiles is a pretty big thing in Thailand, in fact according one story in the Bangkok Post, “Thailand has the largest crocodile farming industry in the world and famous international fashion brands source their exotic skins from the kingdom”. The manager of The Bangkok Bootery store told me that they buy the skins from registered farms and then you can have anything made on site. Any shape and in pretty much any colour! A fashionistas dream right there!

Bangkok Bootery, Canal Shopping Village, Laguna Hotel, Cherntalay, Phuket.
www.bangkokbootery.com