Leather Working Group (LWG) uses different audit standards for different participants in the leather supply chain. Start by identifying whether the business is a leather manufacturer, trader, commissioning manufacturer, or subcontractor. Then build the evidence file around that route. An LWG audit outcome is not, by itself, a statutory import licence or an automatic substitute for a marketplace or brand customer's separate requirements.
This page turns LWG's public standards and certification explanations into a practical filing framework. The applicable standard version, assurance body, site, and business activity still need to be checked for the specific case.
1. Select the relevant LWG audit route
The Leather Manufacturer Audit is intended for facilities processing leather through defined stages, including routes from raw, tanned, or crust material to pre-tanned, tanned, crust, or finished leather. The Trader Audit addresses material data and traceability for traders handling raw hides or skins, part-processed material, or finished leather. A Commissioning Manufacturer owns the leather but outsources all manufacturing operations. A Subcontractor performs manufacturing operations on material owned by another organisation. The correct route cannot be inferred from the brand name or final product alone.
A finished-product brand, retailer, chemical supplier, or equipment supplier may participate in the LWG community without being an auditable facility under one of these routes. Separate membership, supplier information, and audit certification in the file.
2. Manufacturer file: document the site and data trail
For a manufacturer, index the legal entity and site address, production operations and leather stages, subcontracted work, permits, production data for the audit period, incoming material records, outgoing product records, and the location of each underlying source record.
The public description of the LWG Leather Manufacturer Audit Standard lists environmental management, incoming and outgoing traceability, restricted substances and chromium VI management, energy, water, air and noise emissions, waste, effluent, health and safety, chemical management, and operations management. For each topic, record the document name, site, period, owner, and link to the underlying measurement or batch record. A broad statement should not replace the source data.
3. Traders, commissioning manufacturers, and subcontractors
Trader: Keep material type, quantity, supplier, supplier LWG status, warehouse location, and movement records for purchases and sales. Membership alone does not constitute Trader Audit certification.
Commissioning manufacturer: List the leather owned by the company, each production site, the sequence of operations, and the audit status of every relevant participant. LWG's public explanation requires the full production chain to be audited under the applicable standards; the commissioning company's own file cannot replace records for production sites.
Subcontractor: Identify each operation, material ownership, customer relationship, and the data recorded by operation, including energy, water, and VOC information where the standard requires it. The subcontractor file should point into the client's production-chain records rather than claim coverage of the entire chain on its own.
4. Check claims used in product or buyer documents
Keep the certificate or audit record's holder and site, applicable standard or route, status, covered material or operation, traceable supplier or batch, and the exact scope of the proposed claim. If only supplier information is available, say that the supplier has provided LWG-related information pending verification of entity, scope, and status. Do not rewrite it as certification of the brand, finished product, or every SKU.
LWG's Claims Framework guides accurate communications about LWG, membership, and audit protocols. File LWG evidence separately from destination-country law, product-safety documents, buyer standards, and other sustainability schemes. Additional obligations cannot be inferred from an LWG record alone.
5. Six checks before sending the file
1) Does the entity and site match the subject of the claim? 2) Does the business route match the audit standard? 3) Are raw materials, operations, and outsourced steps listed? 4) Can purchasing, production, warehousing, and sales records be traced to one another? 5) Can environmental, energy, water, chemical, restricted-substance, waste, and safety records be traced to source data? 6) Does the wording describe only the verified scope, without turning an LWG audit into a customs, marketplace, product-safety, or universal environmental outcome?
Sources: LWG Standards & Certification, Leather Manufacturer Standard, Leather Trader Standard, Understanding certification, and the LWG Claims Framework. This page is a file-organisation reference; confirm current scope and status with LWG and the relevant assurance provider.
