Chic with a sting in its tail

Bags made of stingray. Photo / Doug Sherring

Crikey! The fish famous for killing Steve Irwin is hitting the high street as a fashion accessory.

Stingray skin is among latest trends in the world leather market and Kiwis are keen to get hold of the fishy fad.

Maree Ward-Russell fell in love with stingray skin while in Mexico several years ago.

She paid about $200 each for a "luxurious" stingray handbag and backpack.

"It's lovely," she said. "It looks a bit like snakeskin but it's got more of a sheen to it."

After getting home, she decided to import a selection of stringray items to sell privately.

"People notice it, there's a big market for it."

Jenny Hylton, 40, picked up a handbag made from stingray skin while holidaying in Thailand last year.

The psychotherapist said she had a moral struggle about whether to buy the black-and-white evening bag "but my desire to have it won out".

It cost about $100, which the self-confessed handbag addict thought was fairly cheap.

"I think it looks really elegant and I love the way at night it captures the light." The bag's look and texture were different to anything else on the market and it always got a lot of attention, said Hylton.

It's not illegal to import stingray products.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry said importers had to prove the skin had been treated and wasn't a biosecurity hazard. They also must prove stingrays were not endangered in the country the skin came from.

About 200 species live in fresh and salt water. Five are listed as endangered with the International Union for the Conservation of Nature. The two found in New Zealand waters are the long and short-tailed stingrays.

Kelly Tarlton's curator Andrew Christie said they were not protected and people fished them to eat the wings.

But killing them for commercial use should be carried out with caution: "Any collection of them commercially will have an impact on numbers so you've got to weigh that up against a pretty handbag."

Women's fashion designer Jane Daniels said she had never used stingray skin and never would. It was against her company's principles to use most animal products, and stingray skin did not fit with its style.

"I will not use fur and I'm very hesitant about using skin. It's just not our area."

Legendary animal activist Irwin - whose catchphrase was "Crikey" - died after being spiked in the chest by a stingray barb in 2006.