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Browse a handpicked selection of World Leather articles, thought provoking topics ranging from fast fashion to zero waste are all here. Premium + and World Leather subscribers can delve deeper, with access to the industry beating archive of over 1,400 World Leather technical papers in the archive.

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A footwear company from Denmark believes that using leather that consumers can trace back to the farms that reared the cattle that supplied the hides strengthens its brand and enhances its... Free Content
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09 February 2021
Farfetch tool too far-fetched - leather, world leather Farfetch tool too far-fetched
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The H2O-heavy calculation in a new fashion footprint tool from e-commerce platform Farfetch is comparatively unfair to leather.
04 February 2021
Beast to Beauty: Artisans win hands down - leather, world leather Beast to Beauty: Artisans win hands down
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Fendi set out to find artisans who still live and breathe traditional crafts from the different regions of Italy to work with the company on special editions of its Baguette bag.
30 November 2020
Beast to Beauty: Willique blends tropical notes with high-end appeal - leather, world leather Beast to Beauty: Willique blends tropical notes with high-end appeal
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The accessories brand creates employment in the Turks and Caicos and sees material selection as an integral part of its appeal.
23 November 2020
By human hand - leather, world leather By human hand
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Lexus chose a leather artisan, Otis Ingrams, to launch a new film series. The short documentaries highlight parallels between the work of Lexus's own master craftspeople (takumi) and that of skilled people...
16 November 2020
Metal-free and traceable - leather, world leather Metal-free and traceable
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Luxury group Kering has been running sustainability programmes since 2012. Its most recent sustainability goals set ambitious targets for its leathergoods brands and their suppliers in the tanning industry.
09 November 2020
Standards are on the way - leather, world leather Standards are on the way
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An initiative by French standards body Afnor has led to the possibility of new ISO standards on the circular economy. An ISO technical committee is already hard at work on this.
02 November 2020
The ultimate circular raw material - leather, world leather The ultimate circular raw material
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Smit & Zoon has launched a new company, Nera, through which it will bring to market tanning solutions that it describes as “truly sustainable”.
26 October 2020
Leather industry answers back - leather, world leather Leather industry answers back
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A row over the treatment of leather in the Higg Materials Sustainability Index has had two potentially positive consequences.
22 October 2020
Small-batch boots - leather, world leather Small-batch boots
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A footwear manufacturer, a tanner and a whiskey company mixed together centuries of know-how and craftsmanship to make a special-edition work boot.
07 September 2020
Beast to Beauty: Ethical shift - leather, world leather Beast to Beauty: Ethical shift
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The Cambridge Satchel Company’s iconic products have become world famous in the last decade.
31 August 2020
Secondhand luxury marketplace: a perfect home for leather - leather, world leather Secondhand luxury marketplace: a perfect home for leather
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The market for secondhand luxury goods is thriving, with leather leading the way.
24 August 2020
Ethiopia’s story ‘has just begun’ - leather, world leather Ethiopia’s story ‘has just begun’
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A Vivobarefoot and Pittards partnership has created jobs and opportunities in the African country. With brands looking at new sourcing destinations..
17 August 2020
Circling the wagons has to stop - leather, world leather Circling the wagons has to stop
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Chief sustainability officer at PrimeAsia, Fernando Bellese, accepts that leather faces “rough competition” from the makers of other materials, but says there are a number of important...
10 August 2020
Zero-waste heroes - leather, world leather Zero-waste heroes
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SICIT, a specialist producer of fertiliser and other products, has spent decades developing solutions to the age-old problem of how best to find a use for and extract value from the waste...
03 August 2020
The law is an asset - leather, world leather The law is an asset
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A new law protecting leather’s identity will come into force in Italy this October. It will provide greater clarity for consumers and protect them from sellers of synthetics that seek to deceive them.
Beast to Beauty: What else but leather? - leather, world leather Beast to Beauty: What else but leather?
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A specialist consultancy has combined western materials, including leather from Scotland, and knowledge of Chinese culture and values to find an ideal fit ...
27 July 2020
Waste worth billions - leather, world leather Waste worth billions
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Statistics from France’s Conseil National Du Cuir provide a reminder of just how much value tanners and finished product manufacturers are able to add to hides.
20 July 2020
Rich heritage - leather, world leather Rich heritage
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Millau’s leather and glove manufacturers are at the heart of an ongoing effort to win UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage status.
13 July 2020
Time to put the by-product debate to bed - leather, world leather Time to put the by-product debate to bed
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There are ill-founded arguments that the raw material for leather is a co-product rather than a by-product of the meat and dairy industries.
06 July 2020
Sacred Cow: It’s the How - leather, world leather Sacred Cow: It’s the How
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The Sacred Cow project is soon to release a book and a movie, making the case for an ethical, regenerative food system built around well-raised cattle.
29 June 2020
The transformation continues - leather, world leather The transformation continues
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The entire world is being rocked by the effects of covid-19 pandemic, but the European Commission wants to press ahead with its plans for a move to a circular economy.
08 June 2020
Beast to Beauty: Louboutin is loyal to leather - leather, world leather Beast to Beauty: Louboutin is loyal to leather
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Shoe designer Christian Louboutin has received encouragement to try out “fake” material in his collections in place of leather.
01 June 2020
Leather ‘holds so much promise’ for Niger - leather, world leather Leather ‘holds so much promise’ for Niger
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The Enhanced Integrated Framework tells World Leather how it is working with the government to modernise tanneries, train leather workers and set up more advanced systems for skin collection and exports.
25 May 2020
Limited editions, unlimited creativity - leather, world leather Limited editions, unlimited creativity
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Designer Frederikke Antonie Schmidt’s decision to build a high heels label using leather offcuts from other brands has resulted in a shoe collection that is dynamic, playful and sustainable.
18 May 2020
A material for keeping - leather, world leather A material for keeping
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Entrepreneur Arturas Kanapkis discovered that stylish bags made from Tuscan vegetable-tanned leather chimed perfectly with his love and respect for ageless elegance, allowing him to build up his own...
11 May 2020
What a waste - leather, world leather What a waste
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Industry body the Leather and Hide Council of America (LHCA) has calculated that 5.5 million hides generated by the US livestock industry in 2019 failed to reach the leather value chain.
27 April 2020
Keep the wheels turning - leather, world leather Keep the wheels turning
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The director of industry body Leather UK, Dr Kerry Senior, argues here that, just as the covid-19 crisis has brought new and deserved appreciation for a number of previously unrecognised...
06 April 2020
Beast to Beauty: Deerskin suits become ‘new trademark’ - leather, world leather Beast to Beauty: Deerskin suits become ‘new trademark’
Berluti’s historic love of leather is reinterpreted on the catwalk for autumn-winter 2020.
30 March 2020
Hand in glove - leather, world leather Hand in glove
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Start-up brand Nordic Moose is intent on preventing raw material in Sweden and Finland from going to waste, while preserving traditional, artisan glove-making skills in Hungary.
23 March 2020
Waste squared - leather, world leather Waste squared
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Barcelona-based entrepreneur Josep Riera has no personal history in the leather industry, but he has been travelling to and doing business in India for years.
16 March 2020
Pathways for smaller companies - leather, world leather Pathways for smaller companies
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An important part of the leather industry’s circular economy credentials is that, in this value chain, companies of all sizes are able to see the way forward from linear to circular production.
09 March 2020
A yearning for the real thing - leather, world leather A yearning for the real thing
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Leather has every right to claim its place in the circular economy. Makers and sellers of synthetic materials that misuse the term ‘leather’ to confuse the public and make money under false pretences present a ...
02 March 2020
Leather’s circular economy stars of the future - leather, world leather Leather’s circular economy stars of the future
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A third intake of students began a new ‘Green Leather Manager’ course in the Italian region of Veneto this academic year.
Beast to Beauty: Raeburn pushes Timberland towards ‘closed loop’ - leather, world leather Beast to Beauty: Raeburn pushes Timberland towards ‘closed loop’
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The brand’s creative director urges greater push towards ‘three pillars’ of sustainability.
24 February 2020
Companies must step up - leather, world leather Companies must step up
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France’s main leather industry association, the Conseil National du Cuir, successfully organised the first Sustainable Leather Forum in Paris in the autumn.
17 February 2020
A push to prolong products’ lives - leather, world leather A push to prolong products’ lives
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Online marketplace Vestiaire Collective specialises in passing luxury leathergoods from one owner to the next, arguing that prolonging a product’s life is good for the planet. Leather lends itself perfectly to ...
10 February 2020
Old shoes resurrected - leather, world leather Old shoes resurrected
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The knowledge, skills and love required to repair leather shoes may be less common than they were 100 years ago, but giving footwear a new life in this way is making a comeback.
03 February 2020
Time for a different story to emerge - leather, world leather Time for a different story to emerge
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With an increased focus on moving economies from a linear model to a circular one, a pioneer in terms of theory and practice argues that the leather industry has much to share with the rest of the...
27 January 2020
Circular economy horizons - leather, world leather Circular economy horizons
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Leather meets many of the criteria that circular economy products must fulfil. Smit & Zoon’s platform leader for bio-based chemicals, Dr Yujie Ma, argues that, to make leather even more circular...
20 January 2020
An introduction to Leather and the Circular Economy - leather, world leather An introduction to Leather and the Circular Economy
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In the 2020s and beyond, the way we make and use products will have to shift from a linear model to a circular one. Influential institutions such as the European Commission realise that it is only by...

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