Leather in Retail seminar
03/10/2007
More than 70 delegates attended the recent Leather in Retail conference, organised by the UK leather testing, training and consulting group, BLC, and held in the Leathersellers' Hall in the City of London.
They listened to six presentations, five from internal experts from BLC.
The organisation's sales director, Adam Hughes, started off by introducing the Leather Working Group, a platform for retailers and brands to discuss directly with tanners the question of the environmental impact of tanning. Some of the big names involved, delegates heard, are Nike, New Balance, Timberland, Marks & Spencer, Ikea and Clarks.
Mr Hughes explained that tanners in a number of countries around the world have already engaged with the group and have received recognition for their efforts in sustainability.
BLC's technical director, Dr Victoria Addy, spoke next, explaining to delegates that momentum is building up behind the movement to make leather chrome VI-free. Her colleague, Krishna Patel, who specialises in leather chemistry and regulatory issues, gave the third paper, focusing more broadly on the question of restricted substances in leather.
Delegates then heard the head of external affairs for the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA), David Bowles, give his view on the importance of animal welfare in consumer buyer patterns. He said this issue featured only in seventh position in a table of consumer priorities. He said there was an increase in awareness of measuring and auditing for cruelty to animals, which companies making and buying leather ought to bear in mind.
He refused to distance his organisation from the efforts of others who oppose leather manufacturing, but said the RSPCA had no specific policy for or against leather. "We make policy on science, never on ethics," he said.
Dr Addy returned to give the fifth presentation, on sourcing and manufacturing leather in Asia. She said instances of product arriving in poor condition after three weeks on a container, and having to be discarded on arrival in Europe, were not unheard of.
Finally, Adam Hughes spoke again, about positive leather product differentiation. He presented a series of variations on the leathermark logo, aimed at building consumer confidence. Suggested new labels indicated environmentally sound leather, leather that guaranteed consumer safety, was metal free and quality tested.
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