Key takeaways:
The leather industry is working to create a transparent supply chain so that best practices are rewarded by customers. Efforts are also underway to market leather as a lasting, eco-friendly material.
Tanneries are adopting tighter safety protocols that keep chemicals and more benign forms of chrome from polluting the environment. Companies like Nisolo are experimenting with more natural inputs, such as tree bark, to produce some of their skins.
Leather is facing competition from vegan alternatives. Net-a-Porter bought over 300 faux leather pieces for the Autumn/Winter 2019 season.
With leather back in fashion, a growing contingent of brands and retailers — and the leather industry itself — is working to change the negative narrative that surrounds this durable classic. Stronger environmental standards, innovation and sharper pro-leather marketing are gaining traction and leather could be on the cusp of a conscious revolution.
“[Brands now] really want to get into the nitty-gritty and do a deep dive into the environmental impact of what they're getting,” says Alex Bass, chief executive of District Leathers, a leather wholesaler in Manhattan that has seen an uptick in customers asking for responsibly sourced leather in recent months.
Leading the global industry cleanup is the Leather Working Group, a third-party auditor that inspects tanneries, gives them a rating from bronze to gold, and sets ever-stricter environmental standards for leather-making. The organisation now includes more than 450 tanneries and over 100 brands, including H&M and Zara.
"They are by far the most credible opportunity and authentic means of making sure that the tanneries that you work with are minimizing their environmental impact,” says Colleen Vien, sustainability director at Timberland and a founding member of the Leather Working Group. Membership to the group is based on sales turnover and starts at $2,500 a year and goes up to $17,000 a year for brands with $5 billion or higher in sales.
The EU’s REACH guidelines have banned the use of chrome VI, a carcinogen, in leather products and a growing number of brands have placed this version of the chemical on their restricted substances list. “The most important thing is for a company to make sure that they are using the right chemicals and are using them efficiently,” says Fernando Bellese, head of sustainability and marketing at JBS South America’s Leather Division, a large beef supplier that operates a number of gold-rated tanneries around the world.
Nisolo, a socially conscious footwear and accessories brand, is making more of its products using vegetable-tanned hides. “We see a lot of opportunity to grow there,” says product design manager Taylor Perkins. “These products patina and improve with age and have a better environmental profile.” Meanwhile, Kering is working to rid its leather of chromium and other heavy metals, and innovation in chrome-free tanning is growing. Wet-green leather, made from olive leaf extract, produces an entirely biodegradable hide, for example.
Brands are also working with tools that improve chemical safety, including the ZDHC Programme, which sets standards around hazardous substances, and third-party certifiers like Bluesign or the Oeko-Tex Leather Standard, which offer guidelines for non-toxic leather chemistry and approve leather products for safety.
Most “vegan leather” is made of plastic, specifically polyurethane, PVC or polyester, all non-biodegradable materials made of fossil fuels. Rather than take on plastic’s environmental challenges, brands like Timberland and Nisolo say they’re focusing on cleaning up leather's impact. “We are really leaning into leather and marketing it as sustainable in the sense that it's durable and meant to last,” says Nisolo’s Perkins. “[We are] educating our customers and marketing our products as being intended to be relevant wardrobe staples for many years.”
The way fashion currently defines sustainability has left leather at a disadvantage. Popular environmental impact tools, such as Kering's P&L and HIGG’s Materials Sustainability Index, include the cattle-ranching phase, which makes up the vast majority of leather’s high carbon and land use impacts.
Last year, the EU’s Environmental Footprint Steering Committee approved new assessment guidelines that deem leather from animals killed for meat a byproduct, which would put the material on more even footing with plastics in terms of overall environmental impact.
Timberland is also gearing up to promote longevity as a sustainable choice. “We've always been a brand that believes firmly in the durability of high-quality craft leather and made sure that we only use leather that is going to be as long-lasting as possible,” says Vien.
While most consumers aren’t vegan, they increasingly expect skins to come from cared-for animals raised on cared-for lands. Thanks to pressure from food consumers, multi-stakeholder groups like the Global Roundtable for Sustainable Beef and the Brazilian Roundtable for Sustainable Livestock are already working with leading conservation NGOs to cut carbon emissions and improve forest protection and animal welfare. This includes following and enforcing international standards set by the World Organization of Animal Health to ensure animals get to live lives free of pain, injury and disease.
The trick is to bridge the gap between these efforts and the fashion industry, so farmers know what fashion consumers want too. Textile Exchange, a non-profit that focuses on sustainable materials, is working to synthesise the multitude of existing standards on animal welfare, deforestation, chemicals, sustainability and social compliance into one single Responsible Leather Assessment tool.
The tool, which is still in development, aims to certify leather supply chains back to the farm. The tool is also likely to include a credit trading system, similar to the one used to encourage sustainable palm oil production. “By combining consumer power and brand power, we're really sending a consistent message to farmers about the desire and the support for best practices,” says Anne Gillespie, director of industry integrity.
Correction: Timberland is still looking into leather alternatives even as it invests in animal skins. Due to an editing error, an earlier version of this story mischaracterised the company's efforts as "doubling down" on leather. (May 2 2019)
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