On November 29th, the ILM International Leather portal published an article on the launch of COTI, led by Durli Leathers and other partners.
See the full article below:
COTI partners make technical visits to Brazil
Following the launch of the Certification of Origin and Traceability Implementation Initiative (COTI) in Brazil, brand partners and NGOs were invited for technical visits.
COTI was launched on November 16 and is led by Durli Leathers, Frigorífico Rio Maria, Niceplanet Consultoria em Conformidade, SBCert and the environmental consultancy and strategy firm Green Level.
Technical and field visits with the partners took place on November 17 and 18, in Xinguara and Rio Maria, in Pará, Brazil.
COTI's director, Rafael Andrade, said: "For many years, one of the main requests from national and international NGOs has been for the private sector to take a leading role in implementing actions that help combat deforestation and reduce carbon emissions, consequently reducing the impact on nature."
During the visits, representatives went to farms, slaughterhouses and tanneries to observe the system at work at every stage of the supply chain. These representatives included NGOs such as the National Wildlife Federation and Textile Exchange, as well as luxury fashion group Tapestry and footwear group Arezzo.
Arezzo's sustainability coordinator, Fernanda Bock, said: "Everything we've seen in the field and in the industries gives us great hope that it will be possible to identify individually which animal was used to make the product. And this is a guarantee that this production is not related to deforestation."
COTI, which currently involves more than 40 farms and 113,000 animals, intends to make its information available to the meat and leather buying market via an online platform in the near future.
Evandro Durli, director of Durli Leathers, said: "As a leather chain, we want to get even closer to producers and brands. This is a robust protocol. It's complex and challenging, but together we will succeed. We are moving away from batch traceability to individual traceability, with an integrated and digitalized system to offer our customers greater security."
By the first half of 2024, the organizations behind COTI hope that the program will have expanded to track more than 200,000 head of cattle.