10 September 2025
With Leather Working Group turning 20 years old, we asked some of the most influential people and organisations from across the industry to talk about what LWG means to them.
Luis Zugno, Chair of Leather Naturally
“In a groundbreaking collaboration, Leather Naturally and Leather Working Group teamed up to submit a joint dataset to the Higg Index, with the goal of updating the environmental metrics for bovine leather. This powerful partnership led to the adoption of a new industry average in October 2024, dramatically reducing the reported impacts of bovine leather by an impressive 55 percent to 67 percent. Most notably, the Global Warming Potential (GWP) dropped by 60 percent, lowering it to just 14.6 points.”
Austin Davidsen, long-time LWG Board member
"Twenty years ago, a bold group of leaders had the foresight to start a sustainability journey long before consumers and market expectations would place concrete demands on the industry. I recall my first member meeting back 2015 – and I must admit, on that day, I had no idea how my relationship with tLeather Working Group would evolve… I don’t remember much, but I had a lot to learn!
"In the past decade, I’ve had the privilege of interacting with Leather Working Group in a variety of roles: as a tannery sales agent, a brand customer, and two terms on the Executive Committee. What has always stood out to me about LWG is the incredible passion members have in protecting, improving, and securing the supply chain of a beautiful material. Together, this industry has made incredible gains, and that’s why I’m confident we can also achieve the ambitious goals ahead."
Kim Sena, JBS Couros Sustainability Director, Sustainability Chair at IULTCS, and a member of Leather Naturally’s Impact team
“In my role with Leather Naturally, we believe that true transformation can only happen through education and by uniting our forces – that is exactly the spirit we have always found at LWG: a welcoming, prejudice-free, and truly collaborative environment. It is a creative but not competitive space where we can focus on working together for the good of the industry. But above all, it’s the people: passionate and capable, always ready to fearlessly dive into tough challenges together – they have made the work not only motivating but also deeply enjoyable.”
“Leather Working Group has been one of the best things that has happened to the leather industry over the last 15 years. Given so much momentum against our industry, I believe it is something we can point to as an example of how an industry can work together to approach an identified problem and resolve it with an acceptable system of auditing, for the greater good.”
Kerry Senior, Director of Leather UK
“Leather UK is always happy to collaborate with Leather Working Group. In a time of increasing scrutiny and even greater uncertainty, LWG has helped to give brands, manufacturers and consumers confidence in the leather and leather goods that they are buying. We also welcome the valuable contributions Leather Working Group has made to the challenge of eliminating deforestation risks in the leather supply chain, through their work with the Leather Traceability Cluster, and to improving the out-of-date and inaccurate environmental footprint of leather, in partnership with Leather Naturally. Ever-increasing transparency and sustainability will be vital to the future of leather – and Leather UK supports the significant role that Leather Working Group is playing in delivering that.”
Andy Seaward, founding member of Leather Working Group and former senior manager at Clarks (now retired)
“I have to say, initially it was the tanneries who pushed the whole idea of Leather Working Group rather than the brands who came aboard later on. From a Clarks perspective, we were in the middle of transferring our production to Asia, and we were beginning to use tanners that had no history with Clarks and I had no relationship with them as I had with European tanners, who we had worked with for many years. We did not have the experience and knowledge to fully audit tanneries – we were shoe makers not tanners! As a result, I was very keen on this idea of an auditing process which would help us choose and monitor tanneries.
“The strength of the group was the breadth of knowledge coming from different perspectives. The group worked very hard in the early days and had what were sometimes heated discussions, but the strength was the cross-industry input which gained the momentum to get where the LWG is today.”
Ian Scher, VP of Procurement at PrimeAsia Leather Company
“Across all the key sectors within our operations, the Leather Working Group Protocol has driven improvements in our environmental performance: reducing our waste streams, both hazardous and non-hazardous, limiting and controlling our air emissions, eliminating hazardous chemicals from our process, and most critically, dramatically minimising the risks to and improving the safety of our most important asset – our people.”
Cotance
“Cotance very much appreciates the contribution provided by Leather Working Group in the development of the leather traceability standard, which the Cotance-led initiative LTC (Leather Traceability Cluster) launched to prepare the industry to upcoming legal requirements in the EU market. LWG worked in cooperation with ICEC, SLF and Oekotex in the setting of common essential requirements for leather traceability, which have the potential to reduce significantly audit fatigue and unproductive costs of enterprises in the leather value chain.”
Carl Flach, Senior Director for Operational Strategies at ISA Next-Gen Materials
“Going over the past 20 years, the establishment of Leather Working Group and the continuous improvement of industry benchmarks have driven greater transparency and accountability in the leather industry through reliable data and collective effort. ISA’s growth alongside LWG, apart from maintaining premium leather quality and service, its sustainability efforts, whether self-motivated or LWG-influenced, often outshine its rivals and have built strong confidence among its customers.”