Environmental Sustainability Explained | Webinars

Sustainability is a key driver for business, entrepreneurs and governments. And also an increasing demand from consumers when it comes to the services & products they purchase.

• But, what is sustainability exactly?
• How can it be measured?
• And how can you gather, analyze & use data for making responsible material & chemical decisions?

Webinars

On September 30 & October 11 we have hosted two webinars about the Basics of Sustainability and about quantifying sustainability with Life Cycle Assessments.

Did you miss the webinars? You can watch the recordings.

For who?

These webinars are recommended for everyone interested in the subject and involved in the leather value chain. In specific we invite leather technicians, designers and technical & material managers, sustainability officers, innovation managers, sourcing managers working at tanneries, OEM’s or in the fashion-, automotive- and furniture industry.

Sustainability is a key topic in every business. But also a complex one – especially in the fashion, automotive and footwear industry, which are encountering a selection of alternative materials and sometimes confusing messaging about the sustainability of materials, like leather.

How do you – as a designer, leather manufacturer, brand or OEM – judge these messages and statements and source the most sustainable materials for your product? To know the answer to this question you must first understand the concepts and standards of sustainability and how to quantify it.

What to expect?
This 45-min webinar covers an easy-to-follow explanation of terminology, concepts and basic standards on the topic of sustainability. You will get insights into the possibilities to assess environmental sustainability in the leather value chain. This webinar will also give you a checklist that will help you make the right decisions in responsible chemical and material sourcing.

Topics

• Where do materials come from: Bio-based vs. Fossil-based?
• What is a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA)?
• Product lifecycle Models
• Questions that can support you in chemical and material decision making

Your speakers:

Dr. Yujie Ma has a background in Polymer Science and obtained her PhD in the area of Materials Science and Nanotechnology from the University of Twente in the Netherlands. After gaining extensive academic experiences in various disciplines including biophysics, bionanotechnology, physical chemistry and biomaterials, she joined Smit & Zoon as an R&D scientist in 2014. Since 2016, she has been leading the bio-based platform as a senior scientist focusing on developing innovative and sustainable solutions for the leather industry.

Egbert Dikkers has been working in the leather industry at Smit & Zoon since 1992. In his current role as Global Director Sustainability he is making use of wide industry experience, leading Smit & Zoon in Corporate Social Responsibility focusing on creating a socially and environmentally sustainable leather value chain. Egbert is actively engaged in various industry organizations, including the Leather Working Group, ZDHC, Leather Impact Accelerator and Leather Naturally.

Every industry, every product makes an impact on the environment. A Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is a method to quantitatively analyze that impact throughout a product life cycle. It is a very valuable tool to, for example, support brands in choosing responsible materials like leather. At the same time an LCA is a complex matter, of which it is important to know the possibilities and benefits but also the pitfalls.

Get to know facts & figures about Life Cycle Assessments and learn how to put an LCA to practice.

What to expect?
This webinar gives an in-depth explanation on using Life Cycle Assessment to quantify sustainability. You will learn what is and how to perform an LCA and how to interpret the outcomes. Moreover, the goal of this webinar is to acquire profound knowledge to source the most sustainable materials.

Topics:

• The difference between LCA and Carbon Footprint
• What is needed to perform an LCA?
• How do you use an LCA to quantify sustainability?
• The importance of data quality
• Example: An LCA put in practice

Your speakers:

Dr. Yujie Ma has a background in Polymer Science and obtained her PhD in the area of Materials Science and Nanotechnology from the University of Twente in the Netherlands. After gaining extensive academic experiences in various disciplines including biophysics, bionanotechnology, physical chemistry and biomaterials, she joined Smit & Zoon as an R&D scientist in 2014. Since 2016, she has been leading the bio-based platform as a senior scientist focusing on developing innovative and sustainable solutions for the leather industry.

Egbert Dikkers has been working in the leather industry at Smit & Zoon since 1992. In his current role as Global Director Sustainability he is making use of wide industry experience, leading Smit & Zoon in Corporate Social Responsibility focusing on creating a socially and environmentally sustainable leather value chain. Egbert is actively engaged in various industry organizations, including the Leather Working Group, ZDHC, Leather Impact Accelerator and Leather Naturally.

Fernando Bellese is a Marketing and Sustainability professional with more than 10 years of experience in the leather industry. In his role as Chief Sustainability Officer at PrimeAsia Leather Corporation, Fernando is constantly working in projects to develop Cleaner Production approaches, looking at creating more efficient and sustainable outcomes.

He has also been engaged actively in different national and international initiatives and organizations such as Leather Naturally, Leather Working Group, ZDHC, UNECE and the Brazilian Roundtable of Sustainable Livestock, participating directly in important discussions involving the worldwide leather industry about innovation, supply-chain, traceability, carbon footprint, environment, transparency, animal welfare, responsible chemical management and the global promotion of sustainable leather.

Founder and sole director of Spin360, Federico Brugnoli has always worked as an entrepreneur in the field of advanced services for sustainability and innovation. He graduated with honours in 1997 in Environmental Sciences from the State University of Milan. In 2009, he founded Spin360, a company that has grown over time and specialises in developing new sustainable business models and innovative solutions from a technological and organisational point of view, dedicated (among others) to luxury companies all over the world.

He works with his teams to innovate and promote sustainable business models in Fashion, Luxury, Interior Design, Automotive and other important sectors. In his projects, he tries try to develop an integrated approach toward “innovative sustainability”, encouraging collaboration between large corporations and small and medium-sized businesses. In other projects, he works alongside public authorities and the European Commission in developing and spreading innovative skills in response to fast changing market needs.

Federico has developed specific technical skills among others in: Applied Research, Biotechnologies, Life Cycle Assessment, Life Cycle Costing, Corporate Social Responsibility, Risk Management, Technology Transfer. He currently works alongside international luxury groups, tanning and fashion companies, as well as Italian and European business associations. His most recent partnerships concern the chemical industry and focus on the integrated management of the sustainable supply chain in the fashion industry.