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...
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.
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.
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...
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...
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.
A specialist consultancy has combined western materials, including leather from Scotland, and knowledge of Chinese culture and values to find an ideal fit ...
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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...
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.
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...
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.
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.
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.
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 ...
France’s main leather industry association, the Conseil National du Cuir, successfully organised the first Sustainable Leather Forum in Paris in the autumn.
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 ...
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.
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...
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...
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...