Can you lean back and trust a certification blindly?
And is the standard really the same everywhere in the world?

The truth is—unfortunately, no. Certifications play an important role in raising standards and improving handling in complex industries. This is also true within leather production. They function as shared reference points for responsibility and process control.
But certifications are not a guarantee—they are a tool. And in a global industry, the same standard can represent very different realities in practice.

Certifications as a Driving Force

Overall, certifications help establish common frameworks for areas such as water consumption, chemical management, production processes, and environmental impact. When certifications become a requirement from brands, they gain real influence and can push producers to invest in better practices.

However, higher standards also require a willingness to pay for them. Increased control, documentation, and responsible solutions come with higher costs—especially when working seriously across the entire value chain. Without market support, responsible development is difficult to sustain.

Brands, factories, and tanneries can all be certified, but certifications do not always govern practice throughout the entire value chain. When a brand becomes certified, it only creates real value if sourcing is systematically carried out through certified channels and documentation is actively requested. If responsibility is left solely to the factory, without demands for transparency, the certification can lose its practical impact.

Our long-term tannery, for example, often does not know what final product their leather will be used for—whether footwear or bags—because purchasing happens through factories or agents. This is a completely normal process in the industry. For the tannery, compromising on quality makes little sense, as quality itself is cost-intensive. However, the intended application has a significant impact on finish, suitability, and ultimately price.

Certified Leather – In Isolation

Within the leather industry, several well-known certifications exist today. One of the most widely used is the Leather Working Group (LWG), which sets clear criteria that tanneries can choose to comply with.

LWG operates with different levels—audit, bronze, silver, and gold—depending on how many requirements a tannery meets in practice. It is not about membership, but about actual processes. Many tanneries start at a lower level and gradually move upward as they invest in improvements.

Even at the highest level, a certification is not a stamp of approval that everything is “perfect.” It is an indication that conscious choices have been made.

Same Standard – Different Realities

When looking soberly at certifications across countries, there are often significant differences in how the same standard is applied in practice. Although the criteria may be identical on paper, factors such as legislation, enforcement, industrial frameworks, and working culture play a decisive role.

In dialogue with our Portuguese tannery, we were made aware that, in practice, it is often more demanding to achieve and maintain an LWG Gold certification within the EU than outside the EU. Not because the certification itself is different, but because European requirements regarding chemicals, environmental impact, documentation, and control are significantly stricter—placing higher demands on the processes the certification must operate within.

This means that global certifications often become more far-reaching in regions with strong regulation and consistent enforcement. The certification builds on an existing baseline—it does not replace it.

There are also grey areas in global systems. Differences in enforcement and oversight can be difficult to assess from the outside, yet they have real implications. In this context, certifications should be understood as part of a broader structural and cultural framework.

A simple comparison is the idea of a one-size-fits-all solution within Danish public schools. Even though the framework is the same, day-to-day practice varies from school to school and municipality to municipality. The same applies to certifications—just on a different scale, depending on local conditions and structures.

When Certifications Operate “European” in Practice

Although LWG is a global standard, it does not operate in a vacuum. An LWG Gold–certified tannery in the EU also operates under comprehensive European legislation, including the REACH regulation as well as environmental and occupational safety requirements. These frameworks do not necessarily apply to the same extent outside the EU.

As a result, LWG certification in Europe is effectively more demanding in practice, even though the formal standard is the same.

Experience Over Symbolism

As a starting point, we choose to work with certified tanneries—unless solid documentation can demonstrate that innovative and responsible tanning processes are in place.

In our view, leather remains one of the most durable and functional materials available. But quality depends entirely on how it is tanned: which chemicals are used, how they are handled, whether closed-loop water systems are in place, and whether wastewater is treated rather than discharged untreated.

We have previously worked with highly certified leather from India, but experienced inconsistent quality and limited documentation. The leather felt appealing at first, but durability did not meet expectations. We were met with a casual acceptance of potential process downgrades—an experience that resonates internally and across industry networks. It is not unique; it is more likely the rule than the exception.

Dialogue with our European tanneries—and the insight it has provided—has been decisive in shaping how we understand and work with leather today.

And here, an important distinction must be made:
Patina is not the same as wear.
Patina is a natural, even deepening of color over time—not patchy deterioration.

But that is a different story.
And a different blog.