Leather Working Group (LWG) is a not-for-profit, multi-stakeholder organisation that establishes internationally recognised environmental standards for the leather manufacturing. Today, LWG brings together more than 2,400 stakeholders worldwide, working collaboratively with transparency and address the environmental impact of the leather industry.
Leather Working Group certification is widely recognised in the industry, with leather manufacturers regularly and independently audited against its criteria. Through its evolving standards, the group drives continuous improvement and promotes greater transparency across the leather supply chain. The standards include environmental criteria for leather manufacturing, including areas such as water use, energy, chemicals, waste and emissions.
Since 2010, ECCO Leather’s operations have been aligned with the Leather Working Group (LWG) framework. All ECCO-owned tanneries located in Indonesia, Thailand, and China have achieved Gold ratings under the Leather Working Group standard, which currently represents the highest rating level of performance within the framework.
The majority of ECCO’s leather is produced in ECCO-owned tanneries located with the remainder sourced largely from Leather working certified to the LWG standard. This combination of vertical integration and use of LWG-certified partners forms part of our work with transparency and continuous improvement in leather manufacturing.
In 2025, 98% of ECCO’s leather was sourced from LWG-certified manufacturers, of which 95% were Gold-Rated.
Read more about the Leather Working Group and their focus areas here.