Sustainability at Radley London
Gold Standard Leather
21 April 2023
WE ONLY USE THE BEST...
Gold standard. Sounds like a big deal? That’s because it is. We only work with tanneries that are Leather Working Group-accredited to a minimum of Bronze. In fact, 95% of ours are currently at Gold.
The LWG bring visibility to best practices and provide guidelines for continual improvement. Which is why we’re proud to work with them.
And we ensure this is met at all stages of our supply chain. The ‘Best in Class’ standard set for our tanneries assures us that water treatment and chemical usage doesn’t cause damage to the environment. That’s either directly or indirectly.
… AND USE AS LITTLE OF IT AS POSSIBLE
We know that reducing waste is one of the most important areas in protecting our planet’s future. Which is why all the leather we use is a by-product of the food industry. None of our materials involve animal cruelty. We don’t use pelts or skins.
You’ll never see us use exotic or endangered animal skins. Any prints you might see on our leathers, such as a mock-croc, have been created by our leather experts using bovine hides. Another win for creativity.
We also plan our collections to minimise the waste from cutting. Using one piece of leather to make both the bag and purse. Our London Design Studio use overstock material in a smart, considered way to avoid generating new material. As Senior Designer Sally puts it:
“We’re constantly speaking with our partners to check on what leftover leather or fabrics they have. In some cases they inspire us to create something wonderful we didn’t quite expect.”
OUR FUTURE IS (NOT) IN THE BAG
We only have one planet after all. Which is why our chemical use is strictly limited. Our testing programme is ‘Best in Class’– wherever in the world there is a maximum chemical allowance, we adopt that as our minimum standard.
CHEMISTRY 101: HOW OUR TANNERIES OPERATE
What we do: pre-plan our production to help our tanneries optimise their efficiency when loading drums and calculating chemical quantities
Why: because a full drum requires the same level of water and energy consumption as a half empty drum
What’s the outcome: we increase quality levels and elevate our materials, while our tanneries maintain a level load in production and zero chemical or time wastage. We definitely have great chemistry.
