Are designer handbags linked to illegal deforestation?

Designer brands such as Coach, Fendi, and Hugo Boss have been listed as buyers of raw materials sourced from destroyed forests in Pará, the northern Brazilian state set to host the UN Climate Conference, COP30, in November.

The allegations, which most companies deny, are detailed in a report published by Earthsight, a UK-based nonprofit focused on environmental and injustice investigations. Their findings draw on thousands of records of Brazilian leather exports, data on the cattle sector, court rulings, satellite imagery, as well as interviews and on-the-ground research.

"Consumers probably expect that when buying a luxury product, the high price tag guarantees some level of ethics and sustainability," Lara Shirra White, an Earthsight researcher told DW. "They don't expect that the leather bag might be linked to deforestation and human rights violations."

The NGO warns of products made from the hides of cattle reared on farms embargoed for environmental violations. Including some operating illegally within Pará's Apyterewa Indigenous Territory, which was heavily deforested during Jair Bolsonaro's presidency.

The Earthsight report's findings draw on thousands of cattle export recordsImage: Nádia Pontes

As part of its research, Earthsight investigated the business operations of Frigol, a Brazilian meatpacking company identified as one of the buyers of cattle raised on the territory.

The report says at least 17,000 animals were sold to Frigol between 2020 and 2023, which is "enough to produce 425 tons of leather." 

Researchers link some of those cattle to illegal farms but say it is not possible to determine the exact number that left Apyterewa, in part because Frigol itself "does not trace most of its indirect suppliers."

It says this gap in reporting leaves the company's "supply chain vulnerable to the widespread practice of ‘cattle laundering,'" in which cows from illegal farms are transferred to legally registered properties before being sold.

Paulo Barreto, senior researcher at the Brazilian conservation and sustainable development Institute of Man and Environment of the Amazon (Imazon) said control over indirect suppliers is either non-existent or incomplete. 

"As a result, cattle raised in illegally deforested areas end up entering the market as if they were legal. The lack of a transparent public system regarding the origin of the cattle makes control difficult."

Frigol, however, told DW via email that it does not purchase cattle from Indigenous lands and monitors 100% of its direct suppliers.

"We are committed to working together with industry institutions, the production chain, and public authorities to make progress," the company said in a statement. Adding that it believes "only individual traceability of animals for socio-environmental purposes will make it possible to mitigate deforestation across all links of the cattle supply chain."

Brazilian leather, Italian prestige

According to the Earthsight research, after the animals are slaughtered at Frigol's facilities, a percentage of cowskins are exported. In part by the Brazilian leather company Durlicouros, which shipped 14,700 tons of hide to Italy between 2020 and 2023. Some of that, the report found, went to the European tanneries Conceria Cristina and Faeda.

The Kering Group, which owns a number of luxury fashion brands, including Gucci, has denied the findings of the reportImage: Stefano Costantino/Avalon/picture alliance

The research lists high-end names like Coach, Fendi, Chloé, Hugo Boss and Saint Lauren among Conceria Cristina's clients. Faeda, meanwhile, provides leather to brands such as Chanel, Balenciaga and Gucci, according to the investigation.

In response to a DW request for comment, Chanel cited deforestation as a "major concern" and said it no longer works with Faeda due to unmet traceability requirements. "92% of the calfskin we use is sourced from Europe, and we audit slaughterhouses and farms outside Europe to ensure they are not in deforestation zones." 

The Kering Group, which owns Balenciaga, Gucci, and Saint Laurent, told DW that while the two Italian companies mentioned in the report are suppliers, "the leather they provide to any Kering house does not come from Brazil."

Based on Earthsight's findings, Hugo Boss issued a statement to say it had conducted a detailed review, and could "confirm that none of the leather" it is supplied "is connected to any of the alleged parties in connection with the investigation." 

Some experts say there is a lack of transparency in the system monitoring the origin of cattle Image: Magda Regina

LVMH, which owns Fendi and Louis Vuitton, says it has a system capable of tracing the origin of 98% of the leather used in its products and that it does not source this from South America. And Tapestry, which owns the Coach brand, wrote to DW saying that while the system for tracking raw materials in Brazil is "complex and imperfect," it is working to be "part of the solution to improve traceability and transparency."

Chloé, Conceria Cristina and Faeda had not responded to request for comment at the time of publication.

Flaws in the certification system

But Earthsight researcher Lara Shirra White said companies often use the certification to vouch for the ethics and sustainability of the leather they produce "instead of conducting meaningful due diligence themselves to ensure their supply chains are deforestation-free."

Parts of Pará state were among the most heavily deforested areas under Bolsonaro's presidencyImage: Andre Penner/AP/picture alliance

She says the problem with the LWG, founded in 2005, is that "it does not require traceability back to the farms," and can therefore not account for environmental and human rights abuses in the areas where the cattle are raised.

The LWG told DW it is enhancing its "due diligence requirements related to deforestation and land conversion,” which will "include establishing a chain of custody system that would support more detailed traceability across the leather value chain."

Can a shift come via Europe?

There is some hope that the European Union's Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) could make a contribution to change. Due to come into effect at the end of this year after a 12-month delay, it will ban the purchase of products originating from destroyed forest areas. 

"We hope the law will be implemented on schedule, despite certain sectors of the industry still trying, in some way, to exclude leather from the scope of the legislation," Rafael Pieroni, a researcher at Earthsight, told DW.

But he said the report also contains a message for the Brazilian government. "It should implement traceability and make all data public. Transparency is the best way to avoid all the illegalities we are exposing in our investigation." 

This article was originally published in Portuguese.

Edited by: Tamsin Walker