Sustainable Fur

Fur dressing happens across many countries from Canada to Cambodia, but the largest concentration of fur dressing and dyeing operations is in China along with the biggest retail market, so getting dressing right in China is a massive goal for the industry.

The program has the full backing of the Chinese government who are rewarding those companies that go through the certification process with expedited import & export licenses making the program good business as well as good for the environment.

It begins with a company volunteering for the process and giving details of their operations including chemicals, details of their finished products and their emissions. These are then verified and checked by experts on-site and if the facility does not meet the strict standards the owners are provided with advice as to how to improve. If they are not successful however, they will be omitted from the program.

The work is done in close co-operation with the Environmental Protection Working Group, which includes national scientific academies, universities, research institutes and associations. The testing of outputs is done by well-respected organisations like InterTek and the British Leather Centre.

The programme is known by the abbreviation IEEP which stands for ‘Inspection and Evaluation on Environment Protection of dressing and dyeing plants’. It is a good example of how sustainability can work for everybody, improving the environment, access to trade, reputation while also helping dressers to find cost-saving efficiencies. It’s a classic win – win.

So far nine different companies have successfully completed the certification process.

With such a strong start the whole industry is eager to see this program progress and develop from year to year and from strength to strength.