Collaborative practices and approaches for sustainable digital transformation of the leather industry value chains

As one of the worst industries in the world in terms of human and environmental abuse, the textile and leather industry urgently needs sustainable development. Suppliers and employees in the Global South belong to a particularly precarious group of actors in the leather industry value chain. Social audit is a practice that companies use to measure, understand, and report on social and ethical performance in their value chain. However, research shows that social audits only marginally improve value chain employees’ rights. Therefore, the discussion of going beyond social auditing towards more collaborative approaches in the value chain is becoming attractive. Now a digital data flow can be established that enables actors in the value chain to act jointly towards more sustainable practices. Developing this data flow in context poses an interesting and urgent challenge for research and practice.

For this research proposal we investigate new approaches and practices for sustainable transformation of the leather industry value chain. The focus is the area of traceability and transparency in the leather industry.  We propose an alternative set of collaborative practices and approaches, including 1) dialogue and capacity building of value chain actors about social and environmental sustainability 2) a digital self-assessment tool for leather employees’ working conditions; 3) an enriched digital product passport including both social and environmental sustainability data. Our research and development will complement current, flawed social audit programs and spur collaboration and sustainable transformation of the leather industry.

Read the popular science article about the project!