Sam Setter's 'Pills': For readers who need some wry medicinal humour

The EU bureaucracy is often a pain in a certain place (just ask the European farmers) because its directives are often interfering with tradition at great loss for small enterprises, always favouring big (multinational) companies. This time the EU centred the bullseye with the Green Claim Directive, EUGCD, which if implemented, would be a huge support for our industry, that is suffering significantly from unsupported and unproven claims that certain products are environmentally friendly, friendlier than leather and particularly those that are derived from fossil fuels like for instance the cactus “leather” and similar products. This would force those producers and brands that favour leather alternatives to come up with proof when they claim that the alternatives they market are “green”. Companies that recently excluded leather like Volvo, Apple and others, as their raw material will have to rethink their often-biased strategies. The directive is not yet implemented, but it would be very interesting to see who is going to oppose this directive. It will be also interesting to see how this directive will impact vegan producers and consumers. Let’s hope that this is reckoning time for our industry! 

Let us reflect on the new EU Green Claims Directive. This directive covers a huge range of manufacturers and suppliers, which in the leather industry encompasses virtually all. You would think of retailers and tanners making certain claims, but this directive involves also chemical and machine suppliers. So in short it says “you make an environmental claim, you prove it”. In industrialised countries most industries are producing their products within the environmental limits described in their countries’ environmental laws, but with the EUGCD, a producer cannot just say “buy my leather of which the environmental impact is " or a machine manufacturer saying “you buy my machine and you save x% chemicals and y% energy and water”. From now on each claim must be proven. Some manufacturers have their products already tested by independent laboratories or universities and would be already compliant with the directive. Others who just launch the slogans, will have to come up with proof.

The leather industry is a great industry. Really! We are generally very sustainable and looking after the environment, cleaning up the waste products of the meat industry. We are all very passionate, loving what we are doing. Our real problem is that we are unable to unite, speak and act as one. We are not capable of creating one voice that only has the best interest for the industry at heart, rather than the present situation where we have numerous representative bodies, some very authoritative, but each with its own interest, its own priorities, its own views, its own ego system. Why can’t we find or create one objective worldwide umbrella organisation that brings the various associations, interest groups, representative bodies of the leather industry together? Listen to each other and create one solid image of the industry to stand up against the greenwashing anti-leather lobbies? Let’s do away with the “we do and know it better than you” and “we don’t listen to criticism because what we do is the best by definition”. Let’s try!