Luxury Leather’s Dirty Secret: Why Traceability Can No Longer Be Optional

Between 2020 and 2023, over 14,700 tonnes of leather travelled from Pará, Brazil to Italy. At the centre of this trade is Durlicouros, Pará’s largest exporter of leather to Europe, supplied by the meat giant Frigol. Nearly a quarter of this leather ended up with just two Italian tanneries, facilities that supply some of the most recognisable names in global luxury fashion, including Coach.

On paper, this supply chain appears “responsible.” Durlicouros and the Italian tanneries are certified by the Leather Working Group (LWG), the world’s most prominent leather sustainability certification body. But a recent Earthsight investigation exposes a critical flaw: LWG certification does not require traceability back to cattle ranches. This gap allows environmental destruction and human rights abuses at the ranching level—often linked to deforestation in the Amazon- to remain invisible, yet embedded within “certified” leather.

This is no longer just an ethical concern; it is a legal one. New regulations such as the EU Deforestation Regulation and the UK Environment Act aim to ban products linked to deforestation and illegal land use. However, these laws are under intense lobbying pressure from powerful industries, including leather, threatening to dilute or delay their impact. Earthsight’s findings make one thing clear: weakening these laws would only legitimise opaque supply chains and greenwashed certifications.

For luxury brands, the warning is stark. Without robust, end-to-end traceability and strict sourcing policies, leather supply chains will continue to carry hidden environmental costs. The report calls on luxury goods companies to take responsibility—by ensuring their products are entirely free from deforestation-linked leather.

At Vyakti India, we believe the future of fashion lies in moving away from such extractive systems altogether. Plant-based alternatives aren’t just materials, they’re a conscious rejection of opacity, exploitation, and irreversible ecological loss. Because true luxury should never come at the cost of forests, communities, or the planet.