Leather

We are committed to responsible leather sourcing for our products.

The challenge

Leather is known for its durability and longevity. We use it in shoes, bags, accessories and clothing. It only makes up 0.1% of the materials we source, but it has significant environmental and social impacts. This is why we prioritise improving our sourcing of this material.

While we only accept leather from animals that have been bred for meat production, cattle farming produces greenhouse gas emissions and can lead to deforestation. There are also concerns about animal welfare. Tanning and finishing leather uses hazardous chemicals and causes pollution. While labour rights and working conditions are a concern across the supply chain.

Our approach

We are committed to improving our leather sourcing and to contribute to reducing these negative impacts. Leather is covered in our animal welfare policy, and we work with partners to address issues such as deforestation, transparency and traceability, and human rights. See more information in the list of projects below.

In 2023, 83 % of our leather products were produced with chrome free tanning, such as vegetable tanned leather and metal-free leather, and we are aiming for 100% by 2025. By 2030, we aim to source all our leather from farms with good animal welfare practices and that are deforestation and conversion free.*

Projects and actions

Leather Working Group

We are a member of the Leather Working Group, a multi-stakeholder community committed to building a more responsible leather industry. It sets standards for the leather manufacturing process, using different criteria including environmental and social sustainability, chemicals, and traceability. All leather used by our brands must be sourced from LWG certified tanneries

Deforestation-Free Call to Action for leather

We have signed the Deforestation-Free Call to Action for Leather, co-led by Textile Exchange, LWG and WWF, which aims to spur action towards ending deforestation in the leather supply chain by 2030 or earlier. By signing, we commit to source all our bovine leather from supply chains that do not cause deforestation or conversion of natural ecosystems. Our target is to achieve this by 2030 at the latest.

Leather Impact Accelerator

In 2023, we were one of several brands who supported Textile Exchange’s Leather Impact Accelerator (LIA) Impact Incentives pilot. This tool is part of the LIA and rewards farmers who follow best practices. Through the pilot, we bought incentives that financially supported a program partner to help cattle farmers in Brazil become independently verified as deforestation and conversion free and certified to an LIA-approved animal welfare standard within a three-year period. Our three-year commitment to purchasing Impact Incentives began in 2021.

Textile Exchange’s Leather Round table

We are part of Textile Exchange’s Leather Round Table, which brings together stakeholders from across the leather and other relevant industries. This roundtable focuses on some of the biggest issues in the sector including better animal welfare, fair treatment of workers and reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

* Definition based on the Accountability Framework Initiative’s definition of deforestation and degradation.

We publish our Sustainability Disclosure annually. In this document, we set out our goals and the progress we’ve made in the previous year. Find the latest version here. More up to date information can be included on this webpage.