World Leather Day… - Sam Setter's 'Pills': For readers who need some wry medicinal humour

Leather Naturally again promoted World Leather Day, and luckily for its members they provided a social media kit, which people could use for participating in the promotion. Like last year this initiative is not a global leather industry initiative but a promotional action by LN, supported by LWG and SLF as described in the mentioned “social media toolkit”. The toolkit does not mention how many, or, if at all, any national leather value chain representative bodies supported the initiative. Even if other entities adhered or were part of the organisation of the World Leather Day, they have not been mentioned. 

What surprised me however was this phrase in the toolkit document: "Transparent and compliant leather production relies on audited tanneries that process animal hides using strictly regulated chemicals. These facilities adhere to rigorous safety and environmental standards, ensuring responsible waste management. Final leather products meet brand and NGO requirements by complying with Restricted Substances Lists (RSLs)”. Just reflect on this as this phrase implies that transparent and compliant leather production relies only on audited tanneries. It indirectly says that the industry cannot rely on tanneries that are not audited, not even if fully compliant with the local ESG laws. And how about these brands and NGO requirements? Let’s reflect on the fact that various brands have been accused of not being transparent and not being compliant with local laws nor with their own ESG requirements beyond the first tier of their supply chain, something the auditing companies can do nothing about as they have no access to these tiers. And how about the NGOs that push for environmental regulations based on ideology rather than on reality and science?

The system needs a complete overhaul and a different approach to become fair, objective and credible. – Sam Setter