Wrong to play one material against another, COTANCE says
Leather manufacturers and the makers of alternative materials must do their best to deliver their products as sustainably as possible and promote each one truthfully and accurately. This was the message that the secretary general of COTANCE, Gustavo González-Quijano, delivered at an online conference called the Safety Footwear Revolution Week at the end of November.
Mr González-Quijano took part on the final day of the event in a discussion panel that had sustainability as its main theme. Other speakers on the panel represented producers and users of plant-based or fossil fuel-based alternatives to leather.
Tanners should be proud, the COTANCE secretary general said, because leather “is the oldest circular-economy product you could find”. He also said that companies that set out to attract brands and consumers away from leather need to consider the possibility that they could, indirectly, be making the problem of waste worse. “People eat meat,” he said, “and hides are produced, and we can either use those hides or waste them. If we waste them, we have to manage that waste.”
He also said there was a need to communicate the merits of each material clearly and honestly. He quoted a recent European Commission survey of 1,600 product websites, which led to a close-up examination of 150 of them. Of these, the Commission found that 80, more than half, conveyed misleading or false information about the sustainability credentials of the products concerned. He said the Commission is intent on addressing this to make it easier for consumers to make informed choices.
“It’s wrong to play one material against another,” he said. “Every material has its merits and we have to make the best materials we can and promote each one on its own merits.”
Image: AJ Hollander.
