LITE Leather
The LITE Leather (Low Impact to Environment Leather) label is a certificate that can be attached to any product that is manufactured with especially low energy consumption and water usage. The certification is based on a product's CO2 footprint, which involves documenting the carbon dioxide emissions for each square meter of leather produced. LITE standards are based on calculations by the BLC (British Leather Technology Center) for average energy and water consumption in the industry — LITE products are produced with roughly 35% less energy and 50% less water. To accelerate the process of making leather production environmentally sound, this project is being funded by the German Investment Corporation (DEG) with funding from the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development. Renowned manufacturers including Timberland, New Balance, Hush Puppies, Reef, Simple Shoes or Keen Footwear market shoes using LITE leather. The LITE leather label was initialized by the German-Sino leather producer ISA TanTec, whose tannery in Guangzhou, China is one of the finalists for the 2009 Tannery of the Year awards programme.