MILAN (AP) 鈥� Italian luxury brand said it can map the country of origin for much of the leather used to make its coveted footwear and handbags, which is a first step in traceability according to experts.
The announcement comes during a wave of sustainability rules that are increasing pressure on brands to account for materials in their supply chains.
The family-run and publicly traded fashion house has been issuing sustainability reports for over a decade, but the 2025 report released March 31 is the first that contains figures on material traceability 鈥� notably for leather, which experts say is harder to trace than textile fibers such as cotton.
鈥淲e have been using leather in a more sustainable way,鈥欌�� James Ferragamo, the brand鈥檚 chief transformation and sustainability officer and grandson of founder Salvatore Ferragamo, said in a recent interview. 鈥淚 think it is one of the more sustainable materials in my point of view.鈥�
Most of the tanneries working with the brand 鈥渃ontrol their water, have fair treatment of the workforce, monitor their supply chain ensuring that they鈥檙e buying leather from those who are not deforesting, and taking the right approach also in terms of breeding and animal welfare,鈥� he said.
Traceability in fashion sustainability
Traceability of materials is considered a first and necessary step for the fashion industry, which is facing a new EU framework that will require brands and their suppliers to ensure the items they produce are sustainable from the drawing board to end-of-life disposal. Precise modalities are still being defined and compliance will be phased in over the coming years.
鈥淭raceability is an essential factor, but it鈥檚 not sufficient, I would say,鈥欌�� said Francesca Rinaldi, a sustainability expert at Milan鈥檚 Bocconi University and director of the Monitor for Circular Fashion. 鈥淚t enables the implementation of sustainability and circularity.鈥�
She said that any company that is not tracing their materials 鈥渄oesn鈥檛 know their supply chain鈥� and 鈥渃ould be also criticized for greenwashing.鈥�
Eventually, EU regulations and directives are moving toward full circularity of materials to include measures extending the life cycle of garments, accessories and footwear through repairs and end-of-life management, including recycling and upcycling, she said.
The EU is also phasing in restrictions on destroying unsold apparel, accessories and footwear produced by companies with more than 250 employees and more than 40 million euros ($46.8 million) in annual revenues.
Ferragamo’s sustainability journey
The family run fashion house was founded in 1927 by Salvatore Ferragamo in Florence, after his return from Hollywood, where he had established himself as shoemaker to the stars with clients including and Judy Garland. Material scarcity during World War II pushed Ferragamo to experiment with alternatives, substituting wicker for leather and using cork for soles, the younger Ferragamo said.
In keeping with its origins, Ferragamo remains primarily a footwear and leather goods maker. Together, they comprised 86% of 2025 sales of 976.5 million euros ($1.1 billion).
Ferragamo launched its initiative on leather traceability with the calf leather used for the iconic Fiamma bag, tracing it from breeding to assembly, the group announced in its 2024 annual report.
In 2025, Ferragamo enlisted strategic tanneries accounting for 80% of the hides it buys in a project to identify the country of origin of raw materials through supplier declarations. When including textiles such as cotton, silk and nylon, the company says 81% of its materials are certified under third-party sustainability standards.
鈥淭oday there is not one single solution, one single technological solution to trace the leather to the birth farm of the cows,鈥欌�� said Davide Triacca, Ferragamo鈥檚 sustainability director. 鈥淲e got to that result through a very dedicated and consistent approach and today we are able to trace more than 80% of the entire leather that we supply and the vast majority of which comes from Europe.鈥�
The EU does not require leather to be traceable. Sustainability experts underscore that approaches based on country-level mapping and supplier declarations do not establish a full chain of custody and instead reflect an early stage of traceability.
Ferragamo鈥檚 sustainability journey has included a capsule collection with silky textiles made from orange fibers in 2017, one of its first research investments, and more recently the Nova men鈥檚 tote made with nylon from castor oil instead of fossil oil, and the Back to Earth collection featuring the brand鈥檚 trademark Hug handbag treated with vegetable dyes.
鈥淩esearch keeps on going. It鈥檚 something that we鈥檙e doing all the time,” Ferragamo said. 鈥淲e鈥檙e trying to find different ways of creating different materials. And sometimes the materials that we produce are not ready for market. But it doesn鈥檛 mean that we don鈥檛 experiment.鈥�
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