In its capacity as a not-for-profit voluntary organisation established to provide factual information about the industry, Leather Naturally is not in a position to answer this question – we do not hold any regulatory authority. We would comment that brands looking to source responsibly made leather should work with tanneries that are independently audited.

All too often we see the term ‘leather’ used as shorthand to imply that a material has the same benefits of leather or that it is in some way natural, when it is not. This is not helpful to consumers and Leather Naturally has long included information on its website on how to read labels for this very reason.

Consumers have for a long time been misled by organisations trading off the association of 'leather' as a quality item by adding the term to their material, for example faux leather, PU leather, mushroom leather, pineapple leather, plant-based leather. Even worse, more recently misleading consumers into thinking that by adding the words ‘Vegan+Leather’ together – then this must be a great product.

It is known from surveys that labelling of alternatives, that incorporate the term leather, is misleading for consumers. For this reason, and others, several countries have introduced strict and clear legislation on the labelling of leather, that uses the same definition adopted by Textile Exchange.

Textile Exchange (TE) has accepted the official ISO 15115 definition of leather. This shows clearly that TE wants to promote transparency for the consumers by properly labelling the leather products and separating leather from the other materials that for now are called ‘Manmade non-fiber materials’. Hopefully this great example will be extended to other organisations, brands and institutions.

The term 'leather' has been abused in recent years by a large number of fashion brands and other companies seeking to confuse consumers about the true composition of materials used to make their goods. Many times, these brands are trying to hide the truly alarming amount of cheap plastics that are used in their products by using vague and ambiguous terms such as “vegan leather” that do not accurately describe the materials being used.

Our network is international, even though our physical campus is based in Berlin. Germany is an exciting market with clients interested in sustainability, large investments in R&D, hidden champions and a lot of potential for digital transformation, and Berlin is a melting pot for creatives and pioneers from all over the world to establish synergies in an exciting environment.

Production of natural indigo will always be more expensive than fossil fuel-derived synthetic when the externalities of production are not considered. However recent funding has allowed us to double down on investments in plant-breeding and process improvement implementations that will ultimately decrease the costs of our production and increase yields per acre.

The impact of the pandemic heavily affected the industry, but the flexibility of the local industry and the government support allowed the system to survive. Obviously, companies that were not financially strong suffered much more. The current energy crisis is a bit different because it is difficult to predict when and how it will evolve, and there aren’t solutions in the short run.

Building trust and understanding for each other was a necessary first step, the joint formulation of an industrial roadmap (and how supporting actors need to be involved) helped to visualise what needs to be done. The timings agreed upon in the roadmap also held (and keep holding) the pace high so the momentum can be retained.

After the opening of the Clothing Bank, we were expecting a large influx of requests for material aid, especially from individual applicants, but we really didn't expect what happened after the press conference. Within the first three days, hundreds of desperate people contacted us asking for help. Now the situation has stabilised at around 20 requests a day from individuals.

Yes, unfortunately there is still a lot of excess in the fashion industry and whilst many brands we work with are trying hard to change and adopt a more circular approach it will take time. The positive step is that the industry recognises this and instead of once sending their garments to landfill they want to protect the planet and support people.

We are very upbeat about the prospect of the Green Machine. Currently, we are planning to build a new set of machine in Hong Kong for local recycling and demonstration purposes. We are studying the possibility to upscale the capacity. Lots of things are moving forward. Most importantly, the beauty of the Green Machine is that it is easy to adopt. It does not require a high engineering level of machinery. The investment cost is competitive.

We are focused on only making leather that actively revives nature. To us—that means removing invasive species that are deteriorating ecosystems around them. Even of invasive species, we focus only on human-introduced, severe impact species. We rely on our partnerships and advisors from the conservation and biology communities to help us understand which species are best candidates.

We see it as a tool for brands by offering a sync for their efforts towards achieving sustainable goals. Obviously, this will also help us to place the Delight Group as a pioneer organisation producing climate-positive cotton in India. Our positioning will be strong, and we foresee tremendous potential and opportunity with our association with Good Earth Cotton.

Of course, setting up Good Earth Cotton in India has come with some challenges. The climate is completely different to what we have previously worked with, as this is the first time the programme is being taken to another continent. Moving beyond that, there are different processes involved that have meant we needed to adapt some of the measurement tools and data capture points to reflect this.

If humanity is going to make progress, then we need deeply informed technical discussions about what the correct problems to solve are. The reason the fashion industry is worse off today is because greenwashing that oversimplifies highly technical issues is pervasive. Moreover, oversimplification is exactly what has gotten Higg MSI and those that use Higg MSI into lawsuits.

The energy price rise is threatening the textiles industry by a possible reduction or even suspension of production, with some companies considering moving production outside of the EU with a loss of jobs. This is especially true for SMEs, which struggle with tight marginalities while being at the beginning of the supply chain.

The garment industry is complex and opaque as there are many steps involved with trading companies in between, as raw materials are difficult to authenticate, and as the industry is not technology-driven and some of the involved parties are small, with piece embroidery workers working from home.

At the end of a garment’s life, we’ve invested in recycling. We’re shareholders in a startup that processes used workwear into new fabrics, working towards a closed loop where recycled fibres form part of new uniforms. It’s not yet 100 per cent closed because recycled fibres still need to be blended with virgin material, but technology is improving, and we’re actively developing it.