Industry Needs to Find More Efficient, Less Resource Heavy Ways of Producing Leather

Managing Director / Sustainable Leather Foundation

This is a great question and there isn’t a quick and easy answer. We have to consider the reality of a growing population that needs food, shelter and energy. It is wholly unrealistic to expect to do that without livestock farming. As long as there is livestock farming then the leather industry is a vital part of the ongoing sustainability cycle for the health of our planet as without the conversion of hides and skins into leather, those raw hides and skins would end up causing emissions through decomposition in landfill.

To further elaborate, our planet is made up of different types of terrain – some of which is suitable for arable agriculture, some of which will suit livestock farming and some which is not suitable for farming at all. If we were to try and feed our global population with just plant-based agriculture, we would pretty soon rob the earth of the nutrients it needs to regenerate and keep providing us with the crops. Livestock rotation provides much needed nutrients alongside the other benefits of keeping invasive species at bay and ensuring continued habitation of other species. So, while there may be an argument to reduce the amount of meat consumption in certain parts of the world, eliminating it altogether is not a solution.

Having laid out that premise, what the leather industry is now doing, and needs to continue to do, is to find better, more efficient, less resource heavy ways of producing the leather. In fact, the industry is now reimagining the traditional ways of making leather – using plant based and mineral based tanning agents and methods, for example. The majority of world leading tanneries are now cleaning and recycling water and adopting other water saving technologies in production; installing solar panels and using co-generation methods for more efficient energy consumption; investing in state-of-the-art machinery that optimises yield and productivity and adopting many other ways to protect and reduce the impact on the environment.

At the Sustainable Leather Foundation, we work to bring visibility of these best-in-class facilities as examples to the facilities that have yet to make those improvements. Our vision is to support the facilities in those high producing, low-income countries to make the changes that will bring about the most benefit for our environment. Of equal weight in that, is the need to protect the livelihoods of the communities in those same countries. Sustainability isn’t just about the environment or reducing emissions, it is about the whole People, Plant, Profit principle. Environmental, Social and Governance Sustainability requires continued investment and consumers, brands, retailers – society in general – all must play a part in that.

I believe that the leather industry has an important part to play in a sustainable future that respects the fundamentals of ESG but over-consumption and fast fashion are the key culprits, and our society has to wake up to the fact that hypocrisy is what prevents progress in the need to reduce emissions.

For my part, when you ask “how do you plan to make the leather industry do this?”, I will continue with my team at Sustainable Leather Foundation, to provide a service to the industry that supports improvement and transformational change through guided learning, providing tools and education, backed up by robust auditing and certification that measures and records progress transparently and in a way that leaves no-one behind. We continue to work with changemakers and other stakeholders to share knowledge and create an environment of collective action that sits in the pre-competitive space for the industry.

Executive Secretary / International Union of Leather Technologists and Chemists Societies

The leather industry has evolved enormously, and most tanneries are a very compliant, safe and responsible industry. New technological developments are being made as we start to measure parameters that were never measured before and there are very good opportunities to reduce the amount of chemicals (including water), waste and energy. The leather industry has greater potential to reduce emissions than fossil-based industries and create the proper product to meet future needs regarding carbon footprint, usage, repair and biodegradability.

President / Leather & Hide Council of America

Much like every other industry at the moment, the leather industry is grappling with the question of how it can be more sustainable and play its part to meet ambitious climate and other targets set at a global scale. For individual companies in the supply chain, this means focusing on efforts that are highly localised to their specific circumstances. For some companies in the raw materials space, for example, this may mean working with farmers and processors to implement climate smart agriculture methods that seek to capture carbon in soils.

For others involved in the manufacturing process, it may mean exploring new methods and chemistries of tanning and finishing leather products. This is a massive undertaking that will need far more than a “one size fits all” solution for the industry and will require each company to look at their own specific circumstances to reduce their impact.

Management Board / Leather Naturally

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 by bodies such as Leather Working Group (LWG) with measured emissions and targeted plans for reduction in place.