Leather manufacturer JBS Couros has said it set out to use its presence at Inspiramais in Porto Alegre to give a boost to an initiative it launched last year, Leather Labs, writes Leatherbiz.

The group has described Leather Labs as an online shopping tool for professional buyers to source “genuine, sustainable, Brazilian leather”. After three years of planning, it launched the initiative in June 2021.

Kind Leather, a range that the group introduced in 2019, features prominently among the items available on Leather Labs. Kind Leather articles use only those parts of the hide best suited for leather, making it possible to create a higher-quality product, avoid waste and use fewer products to treat hides.

Leather bearing the Kind Leather label generates up to 93% less waste, consumes up to 52% less water and has a global warming potential that is up to 44% lower than leather made using traditional processes, JBS has said.

Marketing manager for Leather Labs, Jorge Bitencourt Castilho, said he was confident the resource would become one of the main sources of low-impact leather in Brazil, offering material with traceability, “responsible origins” and made using environmentally efficient processes.

Mr Castilho told Leatherbiz that JBS only applies the Kind Leather label to material made from Brazilian hides. He explained that the group currently has 20 tanneries in Brazil, 15 making wet blue and five making crust and finished leather.