The leather industry - Royal Smit & Zoon

Regenerative farming and the benefits for the leather industry

By embracing regenerative farming principles, the leather industry can catalyze a shift in creating a socially and environmentally sustainable leather value chain.

Challenges for the leather industry and our ESG approach

The year 2025 approaches quickly and we recognize the urgency to update our ESG roadmap to anticipate on challenges.

Leather Value Chain Continuity is a Choice

“Compliance is still a competitive disadvantage” is a message I often use during speaking opportunities.

Zeology tanning for yak hides, raised by local farmers

Zeology tanning is helping the locals get more out of yak hides, which would otherwise largely be discarded. Using the responsible tanning concept, they can get even more use out of the yak after slaughter.

Certifications for safer chemistry you should know about

How to source sustainable materials? Asking for the right certifications helps. For the leather supply chain there are 4 certification every brand should know of.

Hans’ perspective: Reflecting on 2021 and a look into the future

The Strategy of Royal Smit & Zoon is to create a socially and environmentally sustainable leather value chain, together.

Re: Ending the use of leather? Are you sure?

In an open letter to British designer Stella Mc Cartney COTANCE President Manuel Rios responds to her call on a leather ban during COP26.

Hans’ perspective: Reflecting on the post COVID-19 world

When making sourcing decisions one should take societal cost into account: what are the global society cost of soil remediation, water- and ocean clean-up and climate change? And how can a circular material like leather make a contribution in this context?

6 vital elements in Post COVID-19 era

The leather industry has been in transition for some years, with many value chain partners delivering very positive results. In this blog I am describing how I see the Post-COVID-19 period in the leather industry. I will do this by highlighting six of the major elements the industry is focusing or should be focusing on, for a sustainable society.

Smit & Zoon wins EY Family Business Legacy Award 2018

Smit & Zoon won the EY Family Business Legacy Award of 2018 on Tuesday, October 2nd, 2018. This is an oeuvre prize that rewards and recognizes the qualities of exceptional entrepreneurs from family businesses in the Netherlands.

Being proud of leather

I am proud to be part of the leather industry, an industry that has been making a huge progress to manufacture a sustainable material, bringing comfort, luxury and joy to consumers.

Update leather industry – April 2020

If the leather industry showed signs to pick up again in our view from a difficult 2019 then the Covid-19 virus is a new cause for uncertainty as it impacts global supply chains such as the supply chain of leather. This means for 2020 again at least for the first half year we continue to see uncertainty and yet at Smit & Zoon we continue to be tentatively positive. More and more parties in the leather industry join Leather Naturally and similar initiatives to make genuine leather again more visible.