In a bid to revolutionise the way the leather supply chain accesses information, the Sustainable Leather Foundation (SLF) has rolled out a dynamically linked Partner Profiles and QR Codes which directly link up an individual company’s own website, the SLF website and the company’s personal Transparency Dashboard.
Here the whole system comes together to create the first truly holistic approach to sustainability for the whole leather value chain. This ability for a company to illustrate its real-time position through the dynamic QR code is a crucial tool in future proofing the leather industry, ready for the impending regulations and directives for due diligence which will have either direct or indirect consequences for the industry.
The goal is to provide a one-stop shop for organisations to meet the modern demands of consumers and civil society.
How it works: The fundamental approach that SLF adopts of A.I.M. (Accessible, Inclusive, Modular), means that any company in the leather supply chain whatever the size or scope, can benefit from a platform that transparently shows performance for Environmental, Social and Governance aspects. Once a Transparency Dashboard is created, SLF then supports companies with a toolbox of standards, benchmarks, explanatory notes and guidance templates to help facilities to prepare for audit.
- SLF is the only organisation that provides a robust equivalency service for its partners. This means that if a company already has a certificate or has undergone an audit (for example an ISO 14001 or a Social Accountability SA8000 audit) then there is no requirement to duplicate effort or cost with SLF. The first step for facilities that have pre-existing audit certification is to conduct equivalency mapping to reflect all that good work on the Transparency Dashboard before then evaluating what, if anything, needs to be worked on next.
What’s also available: SLF already has Dashboards for leather manufacturers, product manufacturers and traders.
In the works: The current development is for a Chemical Dashboard – this will enable Chemical Companies to demonstrate their good practice across ESG parameters and work is well underway now with a sub-group that includes Royal Smit & Zoon, Leder Chimica, Rolfes Leather and Silvateam. The Dashboard should be live before the end of the year and the chemical companies involved can already see how this will support them to demonstrate better practice.
- The formation of the Machinery Dashboard sub-group is also currently taking place and work is expected to commence on that development in September.
Future plans: During 2023, SLF will work to develop Dashboards for CETPs, meatpackers and farmers in order to bring supply chains together in a meaningful way, that creates transparency of process, risk and good practice while at the same time protecting the commercial integrity of each individual organisation.
