Sustainably Lakeland
Lakeland Leather was established in 1955 in Ambleside, a small rural village in the Lake District.Lakeland Leather was established in 1955 in Ambleside, a small rural village in the Lake District. To say the natural environment is important to our team is an understatement. We are lucky enough to work from the very heart of the Lake District, and its fells, lakes, woodlands and green spaces inspire each and every one of our designs.
As the Lake District is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site, it motivates us to place even more focus on doing the right thing for the future – to ensure the countryside that surrounds and nurtures us remains for future generations.
Our Materials
At Lakeland Leather, we’re not into fast fashion. We want you to wear our leather and sheepskin products for years, even decades, to come – and many of our customers do!
It takes over six months to make a leather jacket, and even longer for sheepskin garments. We only use leather which is a by-product of food production and we never use real fur. We source the highest quality materials, tanneries and factories for our products, and have done for many years. We do it because it’s the right thing to do as a responsible business.
We are members of the Leather Working Group (LWG), which is an independent group of tanneries, brands and chemical suppliers that has worked to develop and maintain best practices and auditing protocol for the leather manufacturing industry.
More information on the Leather Working Group can be found at www.leatherworkinggroup.com.
Our Repair Pledge
When you invest in a Lakeland Leather product, we want you to be as proud and confident wearing it as we were creating it. We’re committed to reducing our impact on the environment by providing you with products that will last a lifetime. This is why we have introduced a Leather Guarantee on our goods.
Our overall aim is to repair rather than replace as much as we can, in order to keep as much out of landfill as possible. The process for panel replacements, however, is slightly different. If there is damage to one section (or panel) of a jacket or coat, an option would be to return the item to where it was created (often Pakistan for our jackets) to find the best colour match for a new panel. In this instance, it's more environmentally friendly to replace, rather than repair.
Find out all about our Leather Guarantee here.
In store, we have been using recycled paper bags with biodegradable ink for a number of years. In 2022, we have been working on a number of other sustainable packaging elements, including:
- Jacket swing tags (the information tag you would find on a jacket): now a five-part tag made with recycled card and biodegradable ink from Stramongate Press in Kendal, which includes leather care guidance and how to find our new Leather Guarantee
- Bag and accessory tags: a two-part tag made with recycled card and biodegradable ink from Stramongate Press
- Glove packaging: removing the hanging plastic fitment and incorporating this into the recycled card packaging
- Coat hangers: while these remain plastic, we use high-grade recycled black plastic for strength so they can be used many times over many years. We are still investigating financially viable, non-plastic alternatives
We are really proud of the progress we have made so far to reduce and change our product packaging to be more sustainable. Throughout our entire supply chain, we are working hard to ensure all the boxes and protective wrappings used to deliver products to our warehouse are just as sustainable as the beautiful packaging we use for the products in our stores. We know this will take some time to achieve, but we are committed to making these changes for a better future.
Our Future
We are continually looking for ways we can find more sustainable solutions for everything from our supply chain to the fabrics we use, ensuring every Lakeland Leather purchase lasts a lifetime. This certainly won’t happen overnight, but we are proud of the steps we have already taken and are excited to share the rest of our journey with you.
We will share this journey with you on social media: