Examples of Kering sharing leather breakthroughs fail to come to light
19/07/2019
In mid-June, New York-based business publication Barron’s named Mr Pinault in its World’s Best CEOs list for 2019. At the time of the announcement, Mr Pinault told the publication that sustainability is a major aspect of his vision for the group. Of course, the debate about whether it is accurate to describe metal-free tanning as more sustainable than chrome-tanning continues, and is far from simple, but that is not the point here.
The Kering chief executive next said the luxury industry has “a special responsibility” to improve the sustainability of the fashion sector as a whole.
He gave two reasons for this, saying first that luxury brands can set an example that other fashion companies will want to follow. Secondly, he said wealthy luxury groups are in a good position to invest money in sustainability initiatives. The luxury industry has the financial means to invest in the search for new solutions that can help make the industry more sustainable and has a duty to share its findings about those new solutions with the entire sector, Mr Pinault said.
Then he added: “This is what we did with innovative processes that we have implemented, such as metal-free tanning.”
In 2014, Mr Pinault said Kering brands Gucci and Bottega Veneta were working with leather suppliers on pioneering methods to remove all heavy metals from the tanning process. He promised then that the group would share information about what these initiatives had achieved with the whole of the leather industry. He said: “We will be making this know-how available to everyone, including our competitors, as we want Kering to lead the way.”
In 2016, Kering announced it had begun using the same metal-free processes at the France Croco tannery in Normandy, but the exotic leather manufacturer was, by this time, also part of the group; Kering acquired it in 2013.
Last year, Kering suppliers of leather met several times to discuss standards, chemicals management and metal-free tanning. Also in 2018, Kering established a Metal-Free Technical Roundtable to speed up its transition to chrome-free tanning. Meetings took place in Florence in June and November, bringing together the production managers of the group’s brands, its 19 biggest suppliers of leather, and other “key players” in the sector, including Italy’s national tanning industry association, UNIC.
This work is ongoing, but it is still confined to the group, with Kering suppliers saying nothing about these developments to colleagues in the wider industry.
Since Mr Pinault made the June 2019 comments to Barron’s, World Leather has made extensive enquiries in the wider leather industry, in the leather manufacturing sector in Italy and, within that, among tanners in Tuscany, where most of the metal-free development work has taken place. We have also asked Kering to tell us how many other brands or leather manufacturers have asked it for information about the new processes and how far the new methods have extended across the global leather sector.
We have not been able to find a single example of companies outside the group having access to the new information or any new techniques for metal-free tanning that Kering has been able to establish.
Our understanding is that the work is ongoing and we accept that Kering’s offer to share its findings is in good faith. However, to claim that it has already shared its findings externally appears premature.
Mr Pinault’s comments give the clear impression that companies outside the Kering group are now able to use the ideas, information and production methods that have resulted from its metal-free tanning project. Alas, contrary to what he told Barron’s, we have not been able to uncover any examples of this having happened to date.
Image shows the Kering headquarters in Paris. Credit: Kering.
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