ELeather has been awarded the Recycled Claim Standard (RCS) by Control Union Certifications, an independent third-party certification agency. The certification serves as an assurance to ELeather customers that its latest materials contain a significant portion of recycled leather.
The certificate details the material composition of ELeather’s latest material developments for consumer and lifestyle markets, and the company says it will continue to certify each new product in the future to provide complete transparency in its environmental standards.
The RCS is used as a chain of custody to track recycled raw materials through the supply chain, and is an independent external validation of the manufacturer’s claims. The standard verifies the presence, sources and amount of recycled material in a final product.
ELeather’s materials have always strived to manufacture its products using what the leather industry classes as offcuts, which usually end up in landfill sites. The company says that a significant amount of a leather hide is often discarded, which amounts to thousands of tonnes of waste every year. ELeather collects those unused parts and transforms them into a material suitable for use in applications ranging from aircraft seat upholstery to luxury handbags, shoes and even pet accessories. ELeather products contain up to 55% recycled leather.
“Since our engineered leather production began in 2007, we have recycled more than 7,000 tonnes of leather waste – that’s the weight of 16 Boeing 747s,” said John Kennedy, CEO at ELeather.
The company notes that brands are increasingly looking into new ways to be more sustainable, with consumer and lifestyle markets in particular seeking alternative materials that can offer high performance while supporting the drive to be greener.
