Ferragamo expands leather mapping efforts as EU sustainability rules take shape

MILAN (AP) — Italian luxury brand Ferragamo said it can map the country of origin for much of the leather used to make its coveted footwear and handbags, which is a first step in traceability according to experts.

The announcement comes during a wave of EU sustainability rules that are increasing pressure on fashion brands to account for materials in their supply chains.

The family-run and publicly traded fashion house has been issuing sustainability reports for over a decade, but the 2025 report released March 31 is the first that contains figures on material traceability — notably for leather, which experts say is harder to trace than textile fibers such as cotton.

“We have been using leather in a more sustainable way,’’ James Ferragamo, the brand’s chief product officer and grandson of founder Salvatore Ferragamo, said in a recent interview. “I think it is one of the more sustainable materials in my point of view.”

Most of the tanneries working with the brand “control their water, have fair treatment of the workforce, monitor their supply chain ensuring that they’re buying leather from those who are not deforesting, and taking the right approach also in terms of breeding and animal welfare,” he said.

Traceability of materials is considered a first and necessary step for the fashion industry, which is facing a new EU framework that will require brands and their suppliers to ensure the items they produce are sustainable from the drawing board to end-of-life disposal. Precise modalities are still being defined and compliance will be phased in over the coming years.

“Traceability is an essential factor, but it’s not sufficient, I would say,’’ said Francesca Rinaldi, a sustainability expert at Milan’s Bocconi University and director of the Monitor for Circular Fashion. “It enables the implementation of sustainability and circularity.”

She said that any company that is not tracing their materials “doesn’t know their supply chain” and “could be also criticized for greenwashing.”

Eventually, EU regulations and directives are moving toward full circularity of materials to include measures extending the life cycle of garments, accessories and footwear through repairs and end-of-life management, including recycling and upcycling, she said.

The EU is also phasing in restrictions on destroying unsold apparel, accessories and footwear produced by companies with more than 250 employees and more than 40 million euros ($46.8 million) in annual revenues.

The family-run fashion house was founded in 1927 by Salvatore Ferragamo in Florence, after his return from Hollywood, where he had established himself as shoemaker to the stars with clients including Marilyn Monroe and Judy Garland. Material scarcity during World War II pushed Ferragamo to experiment with alternatives, substituting wicker for leather and using cork for soles, the younger Ferragamo said.

In keeping with its origins, Ferragamo remains primarily a footwear and leather goods maker. Together, they comprised 86% of 2025 sales of 976.5 million euros ($1.1 billion).

Ferragamo launched its initiative on leather traceability with the calf leather used for the iconic Fiamma bag, tracing it from breeding to assembly, the group announced in its 2024 annual report.

In 2025, Ferragamo enlisted strategic tanneries accounting for 80% of the hides it buys in a project to identify the country of origin of raw materials through supplier declarations. When including textiles such as cotton, silk and nylon, the company says 81% of its materials are certified under third-party sustainability standards.

“Today there is not one single solution, one single technological solution to trace the leather to the birth farm of the cows,’’ said Davide Triacca, Ferragamo’s sustainability director. “We got to that result through a very dedicated and consistent approach and today we are able to trace more than 80% of the entire leather that we supply and the vast majority of which comes from Europe.”

The EU does not require leather to be traceable. Sustainability experts underscore that approaches based on country-level mapping and supplier declarations do not establish a full chain of custody and instead reflect an early stage of traceability.

Ferragamo’s sustainability journey has included a capsule collection with silky textiles made from orange fibers in 2017, one of its first research investments, and more recently the Nova men’s tote made with nylon from castor oil instead of fossil oil, and the Back to Earth collection featuring the brand’s trademark Hug handbag treated with vegetable dyes.

“Research keeps on going. It’s something that we’re doing all the time,'' Ferragamo said. “We’re trying to find different ways of creating different materials. And sometimes the materials that we produce are not ready for market. But it doesn’t mean that we don’t experiment.”

Bags are displayed as James Ferragamo, Men's and Women's Leather Product Director for the Salvatore Ferragamo group, talks during an interview with the Associated Press in Milan, Italy, Wednesday, April 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni)

James Ferragamo, Men's and Women's Leather Product Director for the Salvatore Ferragamo group, talks with journalist during an interview with Associated Press in Milan, Italy, Wednesday, April 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni)

Davide Triacca, Sustainability Director for the Salvatore Ferragamo group, talks with journalist during an interview with Associated Press in Milan, Italy, Wednesday, April 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni)

Bags are displayed during an interview with James Ferragamo, Men's and Women's Leather Product Director for the Salvatore Ferragamo group, with Associated Press in Milan, Italy, Wednesday, April 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni)

A Salvatore Ferragamo story is seen in downtown Milan, Italy, Wednesday, April 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni)

SAIPAN, Northern Mariana Islands (AP) — The search has been suspended for five missing crew members of a cargo ship that overturned near the Northern Mariana Islands during a typhoon, authorities said Wednesday.

Six people were aboard the 145-foot (44-meter) ship, called the Mariana. Divers on April 21 recovered one crew member's body from the overturned ship.

“The decision to suspend the search is an incredibly difficult one that is only made after very careful consideration of all available information,” Cmdr. Preston Hieb of the U.S. Coast Guard Oceania District said in a video posted on X. “From working and communicating with the families, I know how devastated they are by this outcome.”

The search lasted more than 100 hours and covered an area larger than the state of California, he said.

The search was stopped two weeks after the crew notified the Coast Guard that the ship had lost its starboard engines and needed assistance as Super Typhoon Sinlaku battered the Pacific island chain. The Coast Guard lost contact with the vessel the next day.

Heavy wind hindered initial search efforts, but the overturned ship was eventually spotted April 18 about 40 miles (64 kilometers) northeast of Pagan, one of the islands that make up the Northern Marianas, which is a U.S. territory.

The Coast Guard said debris included a partially submerged inflatable life raft was spotted about 110 miles (177 kilometers) from the ship. The five remaining crew members are still missing, Hieb said Wednesday.

“We offer our heartfelt condolences to the families of the Mariana crew, as well as the entire Saipan community,” Hieb said.

Super Typhoon Sinlaku battered the Northern Mariana Islands, causing wind damage and flooding.

A U.S. Coast Guard HC-130 Hercules airplane crew assigned to Coast Guard Air Station Barbers Point flies over an overturned vessel offshore Saipan, Saturday, April 18, 2026, while searching for a missing vessel, the Mariana, that experienced an engine failure April 15. (U.S. Coast Guard/Air Station Barbers Point via AP)