In 2025, I became Chairman of Leather Naturally. I have been on the Board for 4 years and feel proud and excited to begin this new chapter.
There have been so many milestone achievements since Leather Naturally’s inception in 2013, and we have more plans for the year ahead.
But before I run too far into the future, I want to reflect. Why was Leather Naturally first created and how have things evolved?
Our history starts with our founder Dr. Mike Redwood, who had a vision to create Leather Naturally for the education and promotion of compliant and regulated leather manufacturing.
He recognized that an organization curated by the leather industry and driven by leather experts working collectively together could support the industry better, helping to improve best practice, insights, education and inspiration.
Now, 12 years later, his vision is living, and Leather Naturally has grown to be recognized as the number one source for education and promotion for the leather industry
We have grown our membership significantly and now offer the best educational website in the industry and the best educational materials that the industry has ever had. We are a highly trusted source of information.
Leather Naturally has evolved from media promotion fact sheets and now we have strong resources for communicating a scientific approach through our close relationship with IULTCS.
On-going partnership is essential to our endeavors, and we are grateful to our enduring working relationships with Leather Working Group, Spin360 and Leather UK.
Our recent publications about LCAs are important milestones for the leather industry and could not have been achieved without the work of Leather Naturally.
Over time, we have been able to move from confusing and often misguided perceptions to scientific proven data, supporting the sustainability of leather and its role in a circular economy.
Some of our key achievements over the last few months have included:
- A peer reviewed paper on LCAs published in ‘Discover Sustainability’ magazine, encouraging academics and scientists to re-think leather.
- A joint submission to the Higg Index with the Leather Working Group. Its analysis significantly reduced data around leather’s environmental impact.
- A new well designed and accessible Guide to LCAs, available on our website.
Leather Naturally exists because of the members who support us financially.This membership support pays for regular educational consumer campaigns, on-going social media content, thought leadership articles and design support to ensure our website is highly visible, with content that is well used. And of course, it pays for all the necessary administrative tasks involved in a well run membership organization.
All other aspects of work are voluntary: the management board, supervisory council and team members. The management board and their teams carry out what I call the inspiration and perspiration of the organization.
We are very proud of their work and I want to thank them for their time, effort, energy and support alongside our entire membership who have supported Leather Naturally for over 12 years.
I also want to thank our industry and media partners who share our work, campaigns and manifestos. I look forward to working with all of you this year again.
In 2025 we will continue to support our members with communication activities, and we are working to expand our activities in Asia and the Americas. As we move forward, we will also confront some of the biggest challenges in our industry:
- The source of hides and skins. Today there is still a belief that animals are killed to make leather
- Leather processing still uses high amounts of chemicals, water and energy. This has enormous implications for the measured and audited parameters
- Leathers need compostability to meet the end-of-life disposal
So, here is my call to action:
We need the continuous support of our existing members, both financially and through participation too. We also need new members to join Leather Naturally and help us address the upcoming and evolving challenges that face us all. We need new ideas on how to disseminate our information to a wider audience.
You need to choose your partner for the future challenges of the leather industry. Choose Leather Naturally!
Find out more about our range of memberships here https://www.leathernaturally.org/about-us/join/