BRUSSELS — An Italian leather-maker owned by French luxury giant LVMH has purchased animal skins from Paraguayan companies tied to deforested land, according to an investigation, even as its CEO pushes for exemptions under EU anti-deforestation rules.
Backed by some European lawmakers and government officials, industry lobbyists have been trying to convince the European Commission that leather should not be covered by new rules restricting imports of products tied to deforestation.
The sector claims it does not cause deforestation because leather is a meat-industry byproduct. Once animals are slaughtered, their skins would go to waste if they weren’t bought by tanneries to make products like bags, belts, and car seat covers, it argues.
Fabrizio Nuti — president and CEO of Nuti Ivo Group, an Italian tannery acquired three years ago by Louis Vuitton Moët Hennessy, and president of Italy’s national tannery industry association — is a prominent voice in the campaign.
