Badge of honour for Polestar
Electric vehicle manufacturer Polestar is applying clear labelling on the seats of its Polestar 3 model, highlighting the sustainability credentials of the leather it is using. It said it regarded these labels as “a badge of honour”.
Not all Polestar 3 vehicles will have leather upholstery; customers can also choose something called “bio-attributed MicroTech” material if they prefer. However, comments from Polestar only a couple of years ago made it seem unlikely that the Gothernburg-based company, a joint-venture between Geely Holdings and Volvo, would ever use leather.
This changed in 2022 when head of sustainability, Fredrika Klarén, said Polestar had found a leather supplier that could fulfil its requirement for high-quality upholstery nappa with great sustainability credentials. That supplier is Bridge of Weir, part of Scottish Leather Group.
In its announcement about displaying those sustainability credentials prominently in its labelling, Polestar said: “The nappa leather is 100% traceable, chrome-free, and animal welfare-secured. The rawhides are sourced locally from responsible suppliers in the UK and Ireland. Bridge of Weir’s lifecycle assessment (LCA), with independently verified data, shows that the material has a carbon footprint of 8.1 kilos of CO2-equivalent per square-metre, making it the lowest published for leather.”
The automotive company said the new sustainability labels will serve to show consumers that its commitment to transparency is serious.
