Sustainability

Is Your Leather Bag Causing Deforestation In The Amazon Rainforest?

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Matt Easton

From a sustainability perspective, leather is a difficult subject to navigate. On the one hand, it’s a natural and long-lasting material, often described as a by-product of the meat industry. On the other hand, cattle rearing is responsible for an estimated 14.5 per cent of greenhouse gas emissions globally and 80 per cent of deforestation in the Amazon (which itself accounts for 2 per cent of global emissions, the equivalent of all emissions from flights globally). Meanwhile, the tanning process that transforms cow’s hide into leather often involves the use of toxic chemicals and can be highly polluting.

Now, an eye-opening new report by advocacy organisation Stand.earth has linked more than 100 fashion brands – including the likes of LVMH, Prada and H&M – to deforestation in the Amazon rainforest, via their leather supply chains. “We were astonished,” Greg Higgs, director of research and investigations at Stand.earth, tells Vogue. “We knew there would be some kind of connection but [we were shocked by] the sheer number of brands [that we linked to deforestation in the Amazon]. This is implicating the entire industry.”

Researchers at Stand.earth analysed nearly 500,000 rows of customs data, alongside supplier lists disclosed by brands themselves, to find links between fashion and deforestation in the Amazon. The research focused primarily on JBS, the biggest exporter of leather in Brazil and the largest contributor to deforestation in the Amazon, according to environmental organisation Mighty Earth’s soy and cattle deforestation tracker. (Earlier this year, the company pledged to achieve zero deforestation across its global supply chain by 2035 – a target that environmental campaigners argue is not enough.)

While Stand.earth has found connections linking brands with JBS and the leather processors it supplies, the organisation makes it clear that these links are not proof that any specific brand is using deforestation leather. That’s because each leather processor will source from multiple countries and supply multiple brands, making it near impossible to determine exactly which hide has gone into each product.

A new report has linked more than 100 fashion brands to deforestation in the Amazon rainforest, via their leather supply chains.

RAPHAEL ALVES

However, the organisation argues that there’s a high risk that leather sourced by these brands is causing deforestation in the Amazon. “Overall, Brazil accounts for about 20 per cent of all tanned leather exports globally,” Higgs says. “The primary countries that it goes to is China and Italy – Brazil accounts for 41 percent of China’s tanned leather imports and 36 percent of Italy’s – suggest[ing] that any leather product manufactured in China or Italy is at very high risk of being connected to Brazil and [therefore] Amazon deforestation.”

It’s worth bearing in mind that 30 per cent of the companies named in the report actually have policies in place against deforestation, including H&M, which has had a ban against sourcing leather from Brazil since 2019. “While we take these claims very seriously, we don’t agree that there is a high risk that our leather sourcing contributes to Amazon deforestation,” a H&M Group spokesperson said in a statement. “As of now, we have not yet found any connections to Brazil in our leather supply chain, but we are fully aware of the challenges connected to traceability, and therefore we engage with other stakeholders such as Textile Exchange to make industry-wide progress.” Vogue has also reached out to LVMH and Prada for comment. 

JBS said that the Stand.earth report does not prove a link between products sold by JBS to deforestation in the Amazon. The company added in a statement: “JBS is fully committed to a sustainable cattle production supply chain in every region where we operate. In Brazil, for more than 10 years, the company has maintained a geospatial monitoring system that uses satellite imagery to monitor its suppliers in every biome.”

The statement continued: “JBS has no tolerance for illegal deforestation, forced labour, misuse of Indigenous lands, conservation units or violations of environmental embargoes. To date, JBS has proactively blocked more than 14,000 supplier farms for failure to comply with our policies and standards, and we will continue to take additional actions as warranted.”

Many luxury fashion brands are now signed up to the Leather Working Group, which certifies whether leather manufacturers meet “environmental best standards”. But Stand.earth says that this does not go far enough. “What it doesn’t do is verify that your leather is deforestation-free,” Higgs comments. (The Leather Working Group has said that “Deforestation is a special focus area, and LWG’s vision for the future is for a 100 per cent deforestation and conversion-free leather [meaning land has not been converted for the purpose of producing leather]”.)

Despite some progress on reducing the environmental impact of leather over the years, what’s clear is that fashion’s – often opaque – supply chain means there’s a clear problem for the industry at large. That’s why Stand.earth, together with non-profit Slow Factory and campaign group Model Activist, have launched a campaign calling fashion brands to eliminate deforestation from their leather supply chains. So far, it’s been backed by 200 fashion insiders, including British Vogue’s contributing sustainability editor Amber Valetta, Eco-Age founder Livia Firth, and model and activist Arizona Muse.

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“All of the brands immediately need to make public statements that they are going to eliminate deforestation from their supply chain – in 2022. It cannot be a target that is past that because the Amazon doesn’t have that timeline,” Cameron Russell, who runs Model Activist with co-founder Áine Campbell, says.

“We want brands to immediately make public and tangible steps to make absolutely certain that their supply chains are not linked to leather with possible origins in the Amazon rainforest,” Céline Semaan, founder of Slow Factory, adds. “This may include stopping doing business with suppliers who cannot prove the ultimate origin of their leather back to the farm. If they fail to do so, the Amazon rainforest will be pushed to an ecological collapse, with catastrophic effects for the Indigenous communities of the Amazon, and the entire world.”

Although leather is often described as a by-product of the meat industry, the leather goods market itself is worth an estimated $400bn in total annually – making it a part of the problem. “It’s really just an excuse,” Higgs comments. “The slaughterhouse revenue from leather in Brazil is $1.1bn dollars – you can hardly call that a by-product.”

The likes of Stella McCartney have long been campaigning for a move away from leather, with the designer launching the first bag made from Mylo – a leather alternative made from mycelium, or mushroom roots – as part of her spring/summer 2022 collection. Earlier this month, Ganni announced that it is phasing out virgin leather by 2023, as well as collaborating with Mylo to launch a limited range of products next year.

Despite the growth of plant-based leather alternatives in recent years, many, including Mylo, contain a percentage of synthetic material, which isn’t biodegradable – making them an imperfect solution (Mylo also currently has to go through the same tanning process as conventional leather). Slow Factory Lab has created Slowhide, a new lab-grown leather alternative that is plastic-free, but as with all alternatives, this will take time to develop and scale up.

In the meantime, it’s crucial that the fashion industry works to eliminate deforestation from its leather supply chains. “If the Amazon collapses, this is going to affect every human on Earth,” Russell concludes. “We [need] systemic change.”