More sustainable leather chemistry: Research project presents results

The Darmstadt University of Applied Sciences presented the results of a research-based transfer project together with companies from the leather industry.

Participating companies in the project included the leather goods retailer Picard, the shoe retail group Deichmann SE and the manufacturer of children’s shoes Ricosta – all three companies are also members of the industry initiative cads. The result of the collaboration has now been published in the form of an open access document that presents the model for ‘more sustainable leather chemistry’ and possible solutions.

“The starting point of the project was the goal of supporting the leather industry in the transformation to sustainable chemistry. To this end, the actors involved worked together on an optimistic future scenario for 2035, in which the industry – globally – successfully masters the challenges of more sustainable leather chemistry,” says a statement on the Picard project.

The discussion paper includes current policy guidelines and EU regulations on banned substances in the leather industry, an outlook on possible new regulations and an overview of measures already taken to make the industry more sustainable. In addition, existing challenges are presented and concrete steps are worked out that need to be implemented in order to further develop and shape the industry in a more sustainable way.

In this way, companies and players in the leather industry should be given specific criteria that they can use to check and improve their own processes and products.

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