Swatch to investigate how it procures exotic leather

The Swatch Group said it will investigate how the company acquires exotic animal leather after a Swiss Television report shed light on unacceptable conditions associated with the procurement of exotic animal leathers by luxury brands. The Far Eastern Procurement Service (FEPS) division of Swatch Group will immediately determine if leather from the Far East is used and, should this prove to be the case, will undertake onsite inspections of all sources. "Products from such doubtful sources as those described by Swiss Television have no place in the Swatch Group product offering," Swatch Group said in statement.

For many years Swatch Group, along with its FEPS division, has maintained an efficient control group whose prime responsibility is to control and monitor all suppliers to the group at periodic intervals, the company said. Among the various standards enforced include criteria like the exclusion of child labor, acceptable social and environmental conditions at the relevant supplier companies, and, with immediate effect, acceptable handling and sourcing of animals by suppliers of leather and their local sources-irrespective of the fact that exotic leathers comprise only a very small proportion of the leathers used by the group and that nearly one hundred percent of the latter is sourced from controlled animal breeders in the U.S.

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