About leather production
We want the people making our products to be treated with respect and that suppliers offer their workers safe working conditions. We have a total ban on chrome 6 for all our production, including leather production, as chrome 6 poses a health risk.
We demand that tanneries involved in the production of our leather products follow H&M’s strict chemical restrictions, also regarding chrome. Tanneries which haven’t committed to our demands are not allowed to produce for us.
During chrome tanning, chrome 3 – which does not at all pose a health risk – is used. However, in rare cases an oxidation of chrome 3 can happen, which means that harmful substances such as chrome 6 are formed.
Through our strict chemical restrictions, regular audits and tests, we control that chemicals identified as harmful are not used during the production of our products and also control these chemicals are not present in our final products. We also pose demands on our suppliers to ensure protective gear is used during the handling of chemicals. In addition, we have started to include tanneries in our regular audit program, which is more extensive and also includes many other areas than chemicals.
As some of the tanning is performed further down the production chain, where we do not perform controls, our long-term strategy is to aim for a complete phase-out chrome tanning. We are also working actively to find new, innovative non-animal deriving materials that can replace leather.