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, a first step in traceability according to experts.

The announcement comes during a wave of European Union 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, told The Associated Press in an interview last week. “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 terms are still being defined and compliance will be phased in over the coming years.

“Traceability is an essential factor, but it’s not sufficient,’’ said Francesca Romana Rinaldi, a sustainability expert and director of the Monitor for Circular Fashion at SDA Bocconi School of Management. “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.”

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 its Fiamma bag, tracing it from breeding to assembly, the group announced in its 2024 annual report.

In 2025, Ferragamo enlisted tanneries supplying 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 previously included a capsule collection with silky textiles made from orange fibers in 2017, one of its first research investments. More recently it used nylon from castor oil instead of fossil oil for a men’s tote bag, and its Back to Earth collection featured 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, chief product officer for the Salvatore Ferragamo group, talks during an interview with the Associated Press in Milan, Italy, Wednesday, April 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni) CORRECTION: Corrects role to chief product officer instead of Men's and Women's Leather Product Director.

James Ferragamo, a chief product officer for the Salvatore Ferragamo group, talks with journalists during an interview with the Associated Press, in Milan, Italy, Wednesday, April 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni) CORRECTION: Corrects role to chief product officer instead of Men's and Women's Leather Product Director.

Bags are displayed during an interview with James Ferragamo, chief product officer for the Salvatore Ferragamo group, with Associated Press in Milan, Italy, Wednesday, April 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni) CORRECTION: Corrects role to chief product officer instead of Men's and Women's Leather Product Director.

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)

ISTANBUL (AP) — A Turkish cargo ship with 10 crew aboard sank Wednesday after a collision with a tanker off Istanbul, Turkish authorities said.

A lifeboat and other debris belonging to the Tugberk Imamoglu have been found but there is no sign of the crew, the General Directorate of Maritime Affairs said in a statement.

“There are 10 seafarers on board, including the captain,” Transport Minister Abdulkadir Uraloglu said. “They are all Turkish. We can say that the sinking occurred rapidly in 11 minutes. No one has been found alive.”

Two helicopters and 12 search and rescue vessels are searching the area.

The ship collided with the Turkish-flagged tanker Alsu in the Marmara Sea at 3 a.m., the statement said. An emergency signal was received from the Tugberk Imamoglu and the first rescue craft reached the site 4:10 a.m.

The vessel, which was carrying rolled steel, collided with the Alsu about 20 miles (32 kilometers) south of Silivri, a western suburb of Turkey’s largest city.

“It is assessed that the Tugberk Imamoglu vessel sank because it did not respond to any calls and the mobile phones of the personnel on board went unanswered,” the maritime directorate said.

The owner of the Tugberk Imamoglu said the captain had contacted the Alsu before the collision to warn that it was entering the cargo vessel’s shipping lane.

“Despite this, according to our initial findings, the collision occurred as a result of M/T Alsu’s navigational movements and our ship sank shortly afterward,” the statement from Imamoglu Denizcilik said.

There was no immediate response to the claim from the Alsu’s owners.

The 90-meter (295-foot) cargo ship was traveling from Turkey’s Mediterranean post of Iskenderun to Eregli in the Black Sea. The 91-meter (298-foot) Alsu is an oil or chemical tanker sailing from Kocaeli, east of Istanbul, to Aliaga on the Aegean coast, according to the Marine Traffic website.

The rescue operation comes as Turkish naval units are helping search for a passenger ferry that sank off the coast of Cyprus on Sunday. Eight people died when the Filo Jet sank and 20 remain missing.

The Turkish Straits, comprised of the Bosphorus Strait and Dardanelles Strait at either end of the Marmara Sea, are among the busiest shipping lanes in the world, with hundreds of thousands of vessels transiting between the Mediterranean and Black Seas each year.

FILE - People sit in front of cargo ships anchor in the Marmara Sea await to cross the Bosphorus Straits in Istanbul, Turkey, on July 13, 2022. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra, File)