H&M announced their decision to suspend Brazilian leather purchase. As reported by Reuters press agency, Sweden’s fast fashion group made this choice because of “serious blazes, strictly linked to the livestock and farming industry, which are hitting part of the Amazon rainforest”. In the same way as American VF Corp holding, H&M set a “provisional ban” while expecting Brazilian suppliers to provide “a reliable check system, to assure us that leather will not at all cause any environmental damages”. For the records, as claimed by CICB, the association of Brazilian tanners, Brazil’s tanneries can already provide such traceability: in fact, a remarkable number of them hold LWG and CSCB leather certifications.
A matter of proportion
As regards VF Corp (the group is in control over a few brands, such as Vans, Timberland and Wrangler, among others), CICB managers supplied figures while emphasizing that made in Brazil leather, purchased by VF Corp, just accounts for about 0.5% of the total amount. As regards H&M, reported Reuters, the Swedish group admits they make use of a little quantity of leather coming from Brazil: in fact, most of it is “European”. In their 2018 Sustainability Report, the Swedes also admitted, at the same time, “out of materials we make use of, leather accounts for a very small amount indeed”.
