Leopard print is a proliferating fashion design with perpetual, cross–market appeal. But as demand for textiles replicating the leopard’s pattern soar, leopards themselves have disappeared from more than 75 % of the historic range. This study quantifies the fashion interest in leopard print to evaluate whether its popularity reflects an interest in wildlife, specifically in leopards or spotted cats, and whether this has contributed, or has the potential to contribute, to conservation. Global interest is documented and quantified by leveraging user–generated internet data (Google Trends Index), the traditional editorial media (Lexis Nexis), and social media (Instagram). The results suggest little correlation between interest in leopard print and interest (or concern) over leopards in the wild. In this context, conservation and fashion preferences may currently be linked only tenuously by most consumers, presenting a challenge, and potentially great opportunity, if they could be connected in ways making the relationship become mutually beneficial. As one way of achieving this, we conclude by proposing a wildlife royalties funding mechanism whereby the fashion print would benefit leopards through a payment scheme for rights of use for commercial purposes.

豹纹印花是一种流行的时尚设计，具有永久的跨市场吸引力。但是随着对仿制豹子图案的纺织品的需求猛增，豹子本身已经从历史范围的75％以上消失了。这项研究量化了时尚界对豹纹的兴趣，以评估其流行度是否反映了对野生动植物的兴趣，特别是对豹子或斑点猫的兴趣，以及这是否对保护起到了作用或具有潜在的作用。通过利用用户生成的互联网数据（Google趋势索引），传统的编辑媒体（Lexis Nexis）和社交媒体（Instagram）来记录和量化全球兴趣。结果表明，对豹纹的兴趣与对野生豹的兴趣（或关注）之间几乎没有关联。在这种情况下，当前，大多数消费者可能仅将保护和时尚偏爱联系在一起，这给他们带来了挑战，并带来了巨大的机遇，前提是他们之间的联系可以使双方互惠互利。作为实现这一目标的一种方法，我们最后提出了一种野生生物特许权使用费资助机制，通过该机制，时装印刷将通过商业用途使用权支付计划使豹子受益。