Sustainability in the Leather Value Chain: Global Overview, Regional and Sectoral Peculiarities

Abstract

The concept of sustainable development has been growing inimportance going back to the 1987 release of the report “OurCommon Future” (also known as the Bruntland Report), by theUnited Nations World Commission on Environment andDevelopment.At that time, the industrial world was not paying much attentionto this novel concept, and the main drivers guiding thedevelopment of the global industrial world continued to be in linewith the past: productivity, efficiency, minimization of costs.Since then, determining drivers of change have grown inimportance and have increasingly influenced the strategicchoices of globalized production systems: rapid legislativeevolution in some parts of the world, growth in importance ofinternational NGOs focused on Environmental protection andSocial compliance, and growth of the speed of information flowsto and from consumers.Some industrial sectors are acting more rapidly than others: Foodand beverage, Automotive, Design and Fashion to name a few.Corporations and brands can no longer run the risk of being foundguilty of non-sustainable practices along their supply chains.The leather industry, as key supplier of at least three of thesesectors, is being asked to rapidly evolve and develop strategiesand techniques to face the new sets of requirements developed byits customers. These involve: Respect of Human Rights, Health& Safety on the workplace, Environmental protection, Fair tradeand operating practices, Consumer safety, Chemicalmanagement, traceability of raw materials and animal welfare. This proliferation of requirements along with the inherentcomplexity linked with proper Global control measures arecreating a potential for increased costs in the whole leathersupply chain and a parallel drop in effectiveness of the proposedstrategies.In this context, the lecture will propose and share an innovativeoutlook on the entire subject at hand and provide a number ofviewpoints for responsible supply chain management by meansof new operational tools and innovative models of businessrelationships in the global leather supply chain.