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LEATHER  WORKING GROUP



Who is behind?
Founded in 2005, the Leather Working Group (LWG) is a multi stakeholder organisation of brands and retailers, leather manufacturers, suppliers, traders and technical experts working towards improving environmental stewardship within the leather manufacturing industry.
The Leather Working Group (LWG) is made up of member brands, retailers, product manufacturers, leather manufacturers, chemical suppliers and technical experts that have worked together to develop an environmental stewardship protocol specifically for the leather manufacturing industry.

What is the goal? 
The objective of the group is to provide, maintain and develop environmental auditing protocols, which assess the compliance and environmental performance of leather manufacturers across the globe, whilst also promoting sustainable and appropriate environmental business practice.
The Leather Working Group has developed an auditing protocol for sustainable and responsible leather processing, which has now been implemented in more than ten percent of global leather production.

How does it work?
LWG works within the scope of Audit protocols with the aim to keep the subject of the protocol focussed on environmental elements within leather production.
Each supplier is graded based on their performance and is awarded seals across 3 quality categories: Gold, Silver and Bronze where the Gold Award demonstrates exemplary conduct in terms of environmental protection.

Traceability within the supply chain is also graded, with A being the highest and C the lowest grade. This determines how far back the factory can trace their leather origins preferably all the way to the slaughterhouse. This grade is separated from the environmental audits.  However the audit is site specific and does not assess farms, animal husbandry, and transportation of animals or slaughtering practices.

Which brands use it? 
Adidas, Acne, Aldo, Camper, Clarks, Bellroy, H&M, IKEA,  Lidl, Macy’s, Nike, Marks & Spencer, Mulberry, Zalando, Nisolo, Timberland, Everlane, Dr. Martens

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