Leather Law Blitz, part of the Centre for the Brazilian Tanning Industry (CICB), recently visited retail locations in the principle cities of Rio de Janeiro.
Their task was to verify proper use of the word "leather" for clothes, shoes, artifacts, and furniture. According to Brazilian Law 4.888 / 65, only those articles made of real animal skin can be called "leather" and the use of terms such as "synthetic leather" and "ecological leather" is prohibited.
A total of 1,810 stores and 26 shopping centres were visited. Ricardo Michaelsen, coordinator of the initiative, points out that some 70% of the commercial locations visited in Rio de Janeiro had some type of error.
Despite the high number of problems encountered, the Leather Law Blitz achieved significant results: a network of retail stores present in all the shopping malls and also on the streets had been promoting PU jackets as "ecological leather".
After visiting the tenth store, the error had disappeared. "One store in the network warned the others the news spread. We even had a formal meeting at the company's headquarters to explain the project" says Michaelsen.
It was also possible to verify that brands from other states had been corrected in the Rio visits. Soon, the CICB will launch a printed document on the São Paulo, Minas Gerais and Rio de Janeiro projects, which together made up the task force seeking to inform others of the Leather Law in the first half of 2017.
