🌿
Pillar 01
Responsible sourcing
Hides from food-industry by-products only. Certified tanneries. Traceable supply chain from hide to finished jacket.
⚡
Pillar 02
Cleaner production
Water recycling, chemical waste reduction, and renewable energy in manufacturing. Measurable targets, publicly reported annually.
🤝
Pillar 03
Fair people practices
Living wages, safe working conditions, and third-party labour audits. Published results, no hidden gaps.
Responsible sourcing
Every hide used in a Vault & Hide jacket is a by-product of the food industry — sourced from cattle, sheep, and goats that entered the food supply, not animals raised solely for their skin. The leather industry consumes hides that would otherwise go to landfill or incineration. Our use of them does not create additional demand for animal agriculture.
We source our hides exclusively from tanneries that meet rigorous environmental and traceability standards. We conduct supplier audits and can trace every hide from the tannery to the finished jacket. Our tannery list is available on request.
All hides are sourced exclusively from tanneries meeting international environmental management standards. We conduct regular supplier reviews and have phased out non-compliant suppliers.
Target: Maintain 100% certified tannery sourcing — ongoing
74% of our hides can now be traced from slaughterhouse to tannery to finished jacket via our digital traceability system. We are rolling out QR-linked provenance records to remaining suppliers.
Target: 100% full traceability by end of 2026
We provide our tannery list on request today. We are working toward making this public on our website — expected Q3 2026.
Target: Public supplier list by Q3 2026
We use only cattle, sheep, and goat hides — none of which are subject to CITES restrictions. We have never used exotic, protected, or wild animal skins.
Target: Maintained — no change required
🇵🇰
Pakistan tanneries — primary source
Our main leather supply comes from tanneries in the Korangi Industrial Area, Karachi — one of South Asia's largest and most established leather processing districts. These tanneries have invested significantly in water treatment and chemical management systems.
Audited · Primary supply
🇮🇹
Italian tanneries — premium lambskin
Our lambskin and select bespoke hides are sourced from Italian tanneries in the Santa Croce sull'Arno district — the global benchmark for premium leather. These tanneries meet EU REACH standards by default and use vegetable tanning processes.
Premium bespoke supply
Cleaner production
Our manufacturing facility operates in the SITE Industrial Area, Karachi. We have been systematically investing in cleaner production practices since 2021, when we established baseline measurements across water use, energy consumption, and waste generation. Progress is measured and reported annually.
38% reduction (target 50%)
We installed closed-loop water recycling systems in our wet processing areas in 2023 and have reduced production water consumption by 38% against our 2021 baseline. We are on track to meet our 50% reduction target by 2027.
Target: 50% reduction by 2027
48% of our facility's electricity now comes from solar generation following installation of a rooftop solar array in 2024. We are planning a second phase to reach 80% renewable electricity by end of 2026.
Target: 80% renewable electricity by 2026 · 100% by 2028
67% of our manufacturing waste by weight is now diverted from landfill through leather off-cut recycling (sold to footwear manufacturers), cardboard recycling, and composting. The remaining 33% includes mixed materials we are working to segregate.
Target: 85% waste diversion by 2027
We completed our first full carbon audit (Scope 1 and 2) in 2024, establishing a verified emissions baseline for our direct operations. We are currently measuring Scope 3 (supply chain) emissions — our most significant category — with results expected Q2 2026.
Target: Net-zero Scope 1 & 2 by 2028 · Net-zero Scope 3 by 2030
All Vault & Hide leather is sourced from tanneries compliant with EU REACH Regulation (EC) No 1907/2006, including limits on chromium VI, azo dyes, and other restricted substances. Test reports are available to customers on request.
Target: Maintained — tested annually per batch
We do not yet have verified Scope 3 (supply chain) emissions data. We are being transparent about this gap rather than publishing an estimate that could mislead. Our Scope 3 measurement programme is underway and we will publish results in our 2026 annual sustainability update. We will not claim carbon neutrality until we have verified, third-party-audited data across all three scopes.
Packaging
Premium packaging creates an unboxing moment — but it should not create unnecessary waste. We have been reformulating our packaging since 2022 to eliminate single-use plastics, reduce total weight, and use materials that are recycled, recyclable, or reusable.
📦
Outer box — 100% recycled cardboard
Our outer shipping boxes are made from 100% post-consumer recycled cardboard and are fully recyclable. Switched in Q1 2023, eliminating thousands of kilograms of virgin cardboard per year.
🌿
Inner wrapping — acid-free tissue paper
Jackets are wrapped in acid-free, FSC-certified tissue paper that is fully biodegradable. Replaced single-use plastic polybags in Q2 2022, removing tens of thousands of polybags from our supply chain per year.
🎁
Branded gift box — designed to be reused
Our premium gift box is designed to be reused — as a storage box, keepsake box, or hat box. Customer research showed the majority of recipients kept the box. We reduced box weight in our 2025 redesign.
🚫
Polybag-free commitment — completed
We eliminated polybags from all retail packaging in 2022 and from all wholesale packaging in 2024. The remaining packaging we have not yet converted is shipping tape, labels, and void fill — our current focus area.
62% of packaging by weight is now recycled or recyclable — up significantly from our baseline. Remaining 38% is shipping tape, address labels, and foam void fill — we are trialling paper-based alternatives in Q2 2026.
Target: 90% recycled or recyclable by weight by 2026
Certifications & standards
Third-party standards we comply with or are working toward across our operations and supply chain.
🌍
International env. standards
100% of hides from tanneries meeting international environmental management standards. Audited supplier relationships.
Achieved · 100%
🧪
EU REACH compliance
All leather batches sourced from REACH-compliant tanneries. Independent laboratory testing available on request per batch.
Compliant · Annual testing
🌲
FSC — packaging
Our tissue paper and cardboard packaging is sourced from FSC-certified suppliers, ensuring responsibly managed forestry for paper-based materials.
Certified · 2023–present
People & fair labour
Sustainability is not only environmental. The people who make our jackets deserve fair pay, safe working conditions, and dignity at work. We take this seriously and we verify it externally.
💰
Wages above minimum
All Vault & Hide employees receive wages above the Pakistan Workers' Rights Ordinance legal minimum. Our production team earnings are reviewed annually against the legal minimum and cost-of-living benchmarks.
✅
Third-party labour audits
Our facility undergoes annual third-party audits covering working hours, safety standards, freedom of association, and absence of forced or child labour. Most recent audit result: compliant with no major findings.
⚖
Gender equality in production
The majority of our production workforce is female. Women hold positions across all skill levels including senior production and team leadership roles. We conduct annual pay equity reviews.
🚫
No child labour — zero tolerance
We operate a strict zero-tolerance policy on child labour across our facility and supply chain. Age verification is required for all employees and contractors. This is audited externally and enforced through immediate supplier termination for any violation.
🦺
Health & safety
We are working toward ISO 45001 occupational health and safety certification, expected Q4 2026. Our current incident rate is well below the Pakistan textile industry average, based on our internal reporting.
🎓
Skills development programme
We run an internal leathercraft skills programme in partnership with the Karachi Chamber of Commerce, providing structured training to apprentices each year. Graduates receive a vocational certificate and priority hiring consideration.
Wholesale buyers and institutional customers can request our full labour audit report, factory safety records, and payroll summary by emailing
[email protected]. We believe factory transparency is non-negotiable for serious trade relationships.
Our 2030 commitments
Public, measurable targets — not aspirations. We will report progress against every one of these annually.
By 2026
⚡
80% renewable electricity across all operations
Rooftop solar phase 2 completion at our Karachi facility, plus renewable energy procurement for office space.
By 2026
🔍
100% supply chain traceability hide to jacket
Full digital traceability for every hide — from slaughterhouse through tannery to finished product, linked to each jacket's QR authentication tag.
By 2026
📋
Public supplier list — all tier 1 & 2 suppliers
Publish our full tannery and material supplier list on vaultandhide.com — no hidden relationships, full accountability.
By 2027
💧
50% reduction in production water use from 2021 baseline
Advanced water recycling across all wet processing. Currently at 38% — 12 percentage points to close by 2027.
By 2028
🌍
Net-zero Scope 1 & 2 carbon emissions
Eliminate all direct operational and purchased energy emissions through renewable energy, efficiency improvements, and verified carbon removal for any residual.
By 2030
♻
Net-zero across full value chain including Scope 3
Covering all supply chain emissions including tanning, transport, and end-of-life. Requires collaboration with tannery and logistics partners.
We will publish annual progress reports against every one of these commitments every April on this page. If we fall behind a target, we will say so here and explain why — not quietly move the goalpost. Accountability to public commitments is the only way sustainability reporting means anything.
Durability is the most sustainable choice
Before any of our supply chain work, our most important sustainability claim is this: a leather jacket built to last 30–50 years has a fundamentally different environmental profile from a synthetic jacket replaced every 2–3 years.
The fashion industry's environmental impact is overwhelmingly driven by volume — by the number of garments produced, transported, and discarded. A jacket that stays in a wardrobe for three decades is not replaced 10 or 15 times over that period. The materials, energy, water, and transport associated with those replacements never happen. That is a genuine, structural sustainability advantage.
We are not complacent about this. Durability does not excuse our other environmental footprint — which is why we have the targets above. But buyers should understand that choosing a real, well-made leather jacket over a succession of cheaper alternatives is itself a meaningful environmental decision, not an indulgence.
Our customer research shows that the overwhelming majority of Vault & Hide jacket owners expect to keep them for many years. Our repair service has extended the life of hundreds of jackets that would otherwise have been discarded — and we intend to keep growing that number.
Questions about our sustainability practices?
We welcome scrutiny. If you want to know more about our supply chain, request an audit report, or hold us accountable to the commitments on this page — please get in touch.
This sustainability page was last updated
April 2026, reflecting our most recent annual data. Progress figures are internally tracked and reviewed. Next update:
April 2027. Historical versions of this page and detailed queries are available at
[email protected].