By definition, “regeneration” is the renewal or restoration of a body, bodily part, or biological system after injury or as a normal process. In reference to agriculture, regenerative is an approach that focuses on rebuilding soil health, promoting biodiversity, and improving ecosystems.

Leather is considered “sustainable” purely by the fact that it’s a co-product of the
meat industry that would otherwise go to waste. Regenerative leather goes beyond
sustainability. It is a commitment from all involved in the supply chain that the
animals will not just be used for their parts upon death, rather their lives will be
spent helping to nurture the land they inhabit through the ways they are cared for.

All leather is important, as it takes the hides and skins the meat industry generates
and saves them from going to waste. Despite the large number of hides that are
used each year to create leather goods, in the US alone, over 5.5 million* still go to
waste. Many of these are from small to mid-size farms that do not have the
infrastructure to make use of them. Low import costs and economies of scale meant

it was cheaper to source hides from large overseas operations than from the mid-
size systems that most family ranches in the US are part of. Regenerative leather is

important because it helps increase returns to these ranchers who are investing in
practices that help to conserve the biodiversity and soil health of the land.
*Source: based on public data from the US Department of Agriculture (USDA)
and the US Census Bureau

“Vegan leather” does not exist, rather it is a marketing term that refers to any
material that is not of animal origin (often plastic) and can be manipulated to
look/feel like leather. The vegan tag does not necessarily mean natural, green or
sustainable’ nor does it necessarily provide the same wear and durability qualities as
real leather.

Recycled leather, is genuine leather that was once something else and has been
repurposed into a new product. For example, leather fiberboard—which is made by
grinding up old leather—is used to create create insoles in shoes.

Regenerative leather is genuine leather made from the hide of an animal that was
raised on a ranch utilizing regenerative practices to help restore soil health.

All of our ranching partners are in the United States, and our leathers can be
traced back to the exact ranch the cattle came from. To be sure our hides come
from holistically managed rangelands, we work exclusively with ranches that
participate in a third party ecological monitoring protocol called Ecological
Outcome Verification, created by the Savory Institute.

After Range Revolution hides are sourced from regenerative farms and/or ranches,
they are vegetable tanned at Leather Working Group-approved gold tanneries for
minimal environmental impact. Vegetable tanning is the oldest tanning method
and uses natural tannins from trees. to bind to protein structures in the hide,
stabilize its fiber structure, and prevent decay. Vegetable tanning takes longer than
chrome tanning, but the result is a leather with distinctive aesthetic that ages
beautifully and does not compromise the health of the customer or product
through chemical exposure.