Gucci creates ethical leather handbags

Gucci has has teamed with Green Carpet Challenge, co-founded by actor Colin Firth's wife Livia Firth, to create a handbag range using legally produced leather from the Brazilian Amazon.

The luxury fashion brand’s ethical project includes bags featuring three styles - the hobo, the top-handle tote and the New Jackie - which are already on sale in Gucci stores and online.

The Gucci for the Green Carpet Challenge Handbag Collection all bear a GCC brand mark as well as a 'passport' which documents the origins of the bag, as well as allows the owner to trace where the materials came from.

Diana Zanetto, Gucci's executive vice president and chief merchandising and licensing officer, said: "We hope to be a pioneer in something which could be followed also by other brands in the industry. We know that consumers are changing. Consumers are not satisfied only with beautiful products -- they want to know where the products come from and how they are made."

The red wine-coloured bags are guaranteed to not cause deforestation and Gucci has begun using cattle ranches which are certified by the National Wildlife Federation and Rainforest Alliance.

Livia told WWD: "Today we have five ranches that have been certified. It's very, very important to get a luxury brand to push the agenda and to push the demand into the supply chain, so that from five ranches we can move to 10 and then 20."