What Is The Most Popular But Most Environmentally Friendly Fashion Material In The World?

Without it, the whole fashion and luxury industry may no longer exist, but it is also because of it that the environmental protection problem has not been effectively solved. As you may have guessed, this material is leather.

When the transparency of the supply chain has become the focus of the industry, people pay no attention to the purchase process of leather, an important luxury raw material, and the environmental problems caused by it.

Recently, vogue business, together with filmmaker Manfred karremann and PETA (people for the ethical treatment of animals), conducted a new survey to reveal the cruel experience of cattle in long-distance transportation. There are so many steps involved in leather production that it is difficult for fashion brands to know whether their products are related to live animal export trade.

At present, the ideal situation is that people can trace the origin of leather to specific slaughterhouses. When brands know how their leather materials are processed, they can take measures to promote unsustainable behaviors in the process, such as reducing the use of harmful chemicals in tanning. However, the inability to understand the situation of cattle before they arrived at the slaughterhouse means that people will not know about the survival of these animals.

"Surprisingly little is known about leather," admits Leonardo bonanni, founder and CEO of sourcemap. "We don't know where cattle are raised and how they are transported alive." Sourcemap is a platform for developing supply chain information mapping technology. Their concerns include animal welfare practices and "zero logging" commitment.

Although the exact extent to which live animal transport is used in the leather industry is still unclear, the number of live animal transport worldwide is alarming. A recent report in the guardian revealed that about 2 billion animals are involved in this part of the supply chain each year. Footwear is the world's leading market for leather materials, and the industry's value is estimated at $80 billion and growing. Nathalie walker, agricultural director of the National Wildlife Federation, a public welfare organization in the United States, has worked with Gucci on a leather certification project. The results show that the United States, Australia, France and Italy transport more than $1 billion worth of live animals each year.

find by hard and thorough search

In the study, peta tracked animals from Europe and South America to slaughterhouses in countries such as Iraq, Lebanon and Turkey, documenting weeks of long trips by animals. Johanta has been responsible for the global livestock trade in the past decade.

In his past work, karremann helped confirm practices that some brands said they didn't know about, such as suppliers using cat and dog skins from China. Based on decades of research, he describes inhumane behavior in living trading, such as crowded cabins, amputated animals, and the act of dumping them at will in the sea. He also points out that the softest leather on the market comes from unborn cows. "The most expensive things and the finest leather often contain the cruelest things," karremann said.

The demand for live meat in the country is mainly driven by the import of live meat. But Turkey's growing leather export trade is driven by the fashion industry, such as the coveted made in Italy label, which refers to where the last step in product manufacturing is located, regardless of where the cattle come from or where the hide is tanned. Turkey's exports of finished and semi-finished leather are worth millions of US dollars, and Italy is a key player in this market.

During London Fashion Week, peta protestors called on fashion designers to rethink the use of leather materials. ©Peta

Walker said she has seen progress in the leather industry in recent years, partly thanks to traceable certification standards such as Brazil's sustainability certification (CSCB), the European International Federation of cost engineering (ICEC) and the leather working group. Her focus covers challenging, hard to trace sources of leather, such as the supply of leather from recent deforestation for livestock production. "Either track the farms where every animal is born, or encourage Meat Processors to adopt a complete, traceable supply chain and strengthen deforestation monitoring," she said. It is necessary. "

The leather working group is the most widely used certification system and is exploring how to extend traceability beyond slaughterhouses. Christina Trautmann, operations manager, points out: "in some countries, it goes further back to the farm level. But even so, there are limitations, especially given that some countries do not have slaughterhouses, or even farms of the kind that developed countries do. But in countries that go back to the farm level, we need to work closely with the meat processing industry, which drives the leather industry. "

Kaiyun group and timberland bring a ray of light

Experts claim that traceability can be achieved with strong industry commitment. Bonanni of sourcemap also warns that the transparency of the supply chain in the fashion industry may lag behind other industries by about five to 10 years.

Luxury groups such as Kaiyun group have made improvement measures to achieve 100% traceability of leather to farms by 2025, which is regarded by many as a leader in improving traceability in the supply chain.

We are also committed to the implementation of the collaboration between Timberland and other in the supply chain. Colleen vien, director of sustainable development, explains that their goal is to "connect the early adoptive recycled ranches with our large tannery partners to build a recycled leather supply chain - not only for our own brands, but also for the footwear and apparel industries."

Vien said the project has enabled 6000 skins so far to be tagged and traced back to the original farm network. The leather will debut in several new shoes this fall, and the company is ready to quickly expand the program. According to vien, this is quite different from the company's previous purchasing method, which was mainly through large-scale procurement, with little understanding of the situation of the farm. "The cooperation with OHP has made our supply chain more traceable, and has also provided us with confidence in understanding animals and their growing environment. This is far more transparent than we have been in the past. "

The next step is to work with the meat industry. "A really systematic solution is for beef companies to work with shoe companies," bonnani said Kaiyun has already begun to do so, and a spokesman said he hopes to be able to ask the meat industry to share its data with the fashion industry so that the source of leather materials can be traced back to the farms where animals were first born.

PETA requires customers to consider artificial leather (which may have environmental problems) or plant alternatives such as cork or pineapple peel when selecting materials. However, leather consumption is likely to continue, so independent consultant Anna Heaton looks forward to incentives to improve the lives of animals used in the industry. She has been working with the textile exchange on the leather impact accelerator project to help brands. Until full traceability is achieved, she says, brands can buy credit to support more humane farms, even if they don't purchase. The plan is expected to be launched early next year. The aim is to provide market signals for more farmers to take better environmental and animal welfare measures.

"Over time, the various direct links in the supply chain will become closer," Heaton expects, adding that if all brands set strict humanitarian standards in the leather supply chain and buy points through the program, "it will send a loud message."