Ferragamo says it is taking a more detailed approach to tracking the origins of the leather used in its products, as European Union sustainability requirements increasingly press fashion brands to document materials across supply chains. The Italian luxury company said it can map the country of origin for much of the leather used to make its footwear and handbags, which it presented as an early step in traceability.
Ferragamo’s announcement comes amid what the company described as a growing regulatory push in the EU on sustainability reporting and product circularity. Traceability, according to Ferragamo and sustainability experts interviewed for the story, is being treated as a foundation for proving claims about how materials are sourced and managed.
In an interview, James Ferragamo said leather is among the materials his team sees as comparatively sustainable. “We have been using leather in a more sustainable way,’’ he said, adding, “I think it is one of the more sustainable materials in my point of view.” He also said most of the tanneries working with the brand “control their water, have fair treatment of the workforce, monitor their supply chain ensuring that they’re buying leather from those who are not deforesting, and taking the right approach also in terms of breeding and animal welfare.”
Ferragamo’s timeline for the reporting shows how the company is trying to meet the scrutiny that is building under EU rules. The company has issued sustainability reports for more than a decade, but its 2025 report released March 31 is the first that includes figures tied to material traceability, with particular emphasis on leather. Experts have said leather can be harder to trace than textile fibers such as cotton.
Francesca Romana Rinaldi, a sustainability expert and director of the Monitor for Circular Fashion at SDA Bocconi School of Management, said traceability remains a necessary baseline for fashion sustainability. “Traceability is an essential factor, but it’s not sufficient,” she said, adding that it enables implementation of sustainability and circularity measures. She said companies that do not trace their materials “doesn’t know their supply chain” and “could be also criticized for greenwashing,” reflecting how traceability is now part of the evidence behind environmental claims.
Ferragamo said it has built its leather traceability efforts through projects that begin further upstream than the assembly stage. The company said it launched an initiative focused on the calf leather used for its Fiamma bag, tracing it “from breeding to assembly” in line with what it reported in its 2024 annual report. In 2025, Ferragamo enlisted tanneries supplying 80% of the hides it buys in a project to identify the country of origin of raw materials through supplier declarations.
Ferragamo’s sustainability director, Davide Triacca, described the limitations and the approach involved in mapping leather origins. “Today there is not one single solution, one single technological solution to trace the leather to the birth farm of the cows,” he said. “We 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.”
The company also said that, when textiles such as cotton, silk and nylon are included, 81% of its materials are certified under third-party sustainability standards. Sustainability experts interviewed for the story said the EU does not require leather to be traceable, and they cautioned that mapping at a country level and relying on supplier declarations does not amount to a full chain of custody, but rather reflects an early stage of traceability.
Ferragamo has framed its traceability expansion as part of a broader sustainability and research effort that includes experimenting with alternative materials. The company has previously said it tested leather-related research initiatives, including a capsule collection with silky textiles made from orange fibers in 2017, and later work that included using nylon from castor oil for a men’s tote bag and vegetable dyes in its Back to Earth collection. In the same interview, Ferragamo said, “Research keeps on going. It’s something that we’re doing all the time,” and added, “We’re trying to find different ways of creating different materials,” describing continued experimentation even when some materials are not ready for market.