We currently source 92% of our leather from tanneries with environmental, traceability and social compliance certifications and aim to achieve 100% by 2025. We fully support tannery certification as one of several ways to help drive more responsible leather production. We recognise certifications by the Leather Working Group (LWG), the Italian Istituto di Certificazione della Qualità per l'Industria Conciaria (ICEC) and the International Organization for Standardization (ISO).
We are a member of the Leather Working Group, a multi-stakeholder organisation that aims to improve the tanning industry by creating alignment on environmental priorities, bringing visibility to best practices and providing guidelines for continual improvement. We encourage our tanneries to be audited by the Leather Working Group. We encourage our key tanneries to monitor their water, energy and chemical consumption and to validate the effectiveness of waste water treatment processes and air emissions management.
Even when product patterns are carefully planned to maximise the use of a leather hide, the process inevitably creates small offcuts and leather is a challenging material for our industry to recycle. We engage with our supply chain partners to repurpose leather waste through innovative partnersips. An example of one of these partnerships is with Alta Scuola di Pelletteria Italiana, a leather school, and San Patrignano, an organisation supporting marginalised young people. The school has trained San Patrignano residents in leather goods disassembly and repurposing using excess Burberry materials. To further support finding solutions for leather recycling, we are also funding a two-year research project, which began in 2020, with The Hong Kong Research Institute of Textiles & Apparel (HKRITA) to develop a system for leather goods recycling. Our key partnership with the Savory Institute on their Land to Market initiative will help to facilitate the regeneration of grasslands in the leather supply chain and the livelihoods of their inhabitants.