Our Services
Our team of auditors are located in various regions of the world and are specialists in auditing to the Environmental, Social and Governance Certification Scheme of the Sustainable Leather Foundation.
Auditors are allocated according to availability and geographic need with all administration being governed centrally by SLF Auditing Services Ltd. This ensures fairness and transparency of cost and process.
- Environmental Compliance
- Social Compliance (our Social Audit is accepted by LWG as a requirements for their audit protocol)
- Governance Compliance
- Traceability Compliance – desk or field based
- Gap Compliance auditing for all ESG
The Audit Process
Step 1: Plan what auditing requirements you have and complete an Audit Request Form.
Step 2: A contract proposal will be sent and audit dates agreed.
Step 3: Once the audit is arranged, details will be sent to Sustainable Leather Foundation to issue a unique reference number (URN), set up access to the Transparency Dashboard and Technical Library to assist with preparation.
Step 4: The audit will be conducted on site and full reports issued.
Step 5: On acceptance of the report findings, certification will be issued and an SLF Transparency Dashboard will be created and published.
Our Auditing Team
Our auditors are geographically located in the UK, India, Indonesia, Pakistan and Turkey and are all qualified in either Environmental Management, Social Systems or Occupational Health & Safety, and some have multiple disciplines.
The auditors are contracted to perform audits to the requirements set out by the Sustainable Leather Foundation Certification Scheme. All audit administration and management is conducted centrally through SLF Auditing Services Ltd.
To request an audit, complete the Audit Request Form here and email it to the team at admin@slfauditingservices.com who will get back to you.
Click below to meet our auditing team:
Junaid Ahmed
Junaid is the Managing Director of Asian Verification and works as a Consultant and Lead Auditor, helping textile, apparel, leather and footwear industries to achieve business excellence.
Junaid is a qualified ISO45001 Occupational Health & Safety Lead Auditor, as well as ISO9001 Quality Management Lead Auditor. He is also an Environmental Management Systems Lead Auditor (EMS-LA) and is a certified PMP (Project Management Professional).
Junaid has a wealth of experience that spans water and energy technology, sourcing, business development and lecturing university students.
Junaid holds a BA in Apparel and Textile Marketing, a Masters in Business Administration, a Diploma in Supply Chain Management and Project Management, alongside his Foundation Degree in Engineering.
In 2022, Junaid underwent his SA8000 Social Systems Lead Auditor training.
Zain Akber
Zain is SLF’s Head of Auditing Services and holds a Masters degree in Operations Management – MBA from ITM Business School, India, Bachelors Degree in Mechanical Engineering from Anna University, India. He has worked as a Chemical Quality and Procurement Manager in the leather industry in his career and has provided information technology services setting up ERP systems in tanneries and shoe factories for optimised workflow.
Zain has worked in tanneries for more than 13 years and is a leather industry fifth generation. In his career he has worked with many tanneries. His knowledge spans a wide range of regions as a Sustainability Consultant since 2010 in India, Russia, Turkey, Africa, Bangladesh, Indonesia etc. His experience covers the full range of leather production from beamhouse to finishing process.
In 2017 Zain obtained his ISO 14001:2015 Certified Environmental Lead Auditor certification from IRCA, and he obtained his ISO 45001:2018 Occupational Health & Safety Lead Auditor certification in December 2021. This was followed in 2022 with the completion of his SA 8000 Social Systems Lead Auditor certification through SGS. He is also a registered IEMA – Institute of Environmental Management and Assessment – Principal Environmental Auditor. In 2023 Zain also earned his SGS Six Sigma Green Belt Training Certification.
He has worked on many projects to reduce environmental impact and cost reduction methods to tanneries and is also an industry expert for TUV SUD for ISO Audits. With experience with over 70 tanneries/ factories globally plus experience with shoe factories for ISO audits and social audits.
Zain’s native language is Urdu and he can speak fluently in English, Hindi, Tamil and intermediate level in Russian.
Dr Onur Gorgun
Onur holds an MBA and PhD from the Leather Engineering department in Ege University. In 2021, Onur obtained his CQI & IRCA Certified ISO 14001:2015 Environmental Lead Auditor Qualification and has focused his current attention on using this knowledge to support the leather industry in becoming more sustainable.
Onur’s early career in the leather industry started as Secretary General for the Turkish Tanners Association which gave him experience working at senior management level. He has been working for the Leather Industry since 2002. He is also a Senior Industry Advisor in EBRD, Chairman of National Leather Mirror Technical Committee and a Consultant for more than 40 tanneries for Environmental certifications. He also obtained his EMCC Certified Professional Mentor & Coach qualification which supports his work beyond Consultation.
Please note that at this time, Onur is not available for tannery audits in Turkey. He is available for audits in all other regions and for all product manufacturers.
Chris Jacklin
Chris holds an MBA from Bradford University, a Certificate in Leather Technology from Northampton (Nene) University and a BSC (Hons) in Applied Chemistry from Nottingham Trent University, all in the UK.
Subsequently, Chris has spent over 30 years in the worldwide leather industry working on a collaborative basis with tanners throughout that time. He has extensive knowledge and experience from his senior level positions held in the prominent specialty chemical companies engaged within the leather industry.
Chris has worked as an expatriate in China, Singapore, Thailand, Germany and Indonesia, and has vast experience in the Asia Pacific markets, Australasia, India, Japan and Korea where he has spent his recent time, as well as Pakistan, South America and Europe from earlier in his career.
He has focused his current attention on using this knowledge to support the leather industry in becoming more sustainable.
In early 2018, Chris obtained his CQI & IRCA Certified ISO 14001:2015 Environmental Lead Auditor Qualification and worked as approved LWG auditor from January 2019 to February 2025 and during that time conducted over 400 audits around the world.
In 2022, Chris successfully obtained his SA8000 Lead Auditor Certification.
Deborah Taylor
Deborah is an accredited SA8000 Social Systems Lead Auditor and is available to conduct Social and Governance Audits.
Before founding the Sustainable Leather Foundation in 2020, Deborah previously managed the Leather Working Group, working with organisations around the world to improve the environmental impact of leather manufacture. As well as overseeing the day to day management of the Sustainable Leather Foundation, Deborah is also the current President of the Society of Leather Technologists and Chemists.
Additionally, Deborah is a UN/CEFACT Consultant, working on the UNECE project to “Enhance Traceability & Transparency for More Sustainable Value Chains in the Garment and Footwear Sector” and is a Practitioner of the Chartered Quality Institute (PCQI).
With an IQ of 150, Deborah has been a member of Mensa since 1993.
Sam Taylor
Sam is a qualified SA8000 Social Systems Lead Auditor having achieved an impressive 94% in his exam to qualify.
Having gained his degree in Politics and International Relations, with a specialist interest in environmental and socio-economic sustainability, Sam has worked for Sustainable Leather Foundation since August 2021.
Prior to joining the Foundation Sam worked for BAT (British American Tobacco), the largest tobacco company in the world where he experienced multi-level outlets and suppliers, requiring intelligent communication skills to successfully work with different value chain stakeholders.
SGS Auditors
The auditors below are employed by SGS and are authorised to perform audits on behalf of SLF Auditing Services Ltd. All audit administration and management is conducted centrally through SLF Auditing Services Ltd.
Giriraj Jayware
Giriraj is a Lead Auditor with more than 17 years experience. His credentials include:
- Post Graduate Diploma in Business Management and rich experience in training & development, social
compliance audit management, employee relations, statutory compliance, supply chain management,
security compliance (CTPAT) - Successfully completed SA8000 Auditor course
- Amfori – BSCI
- ISO 14001:2015 (EMS Lead Auditor)
- RBA trained Interviewer
- Successfully completed APSCA-III (CSCA)
- SLCP (India & Sri Lanka)
- SLCP Trainer
- FTUSA approved (Fair Trade USA)
- Foreign migrant workers audit (Malaysia)
- ICS environment audits
- SCAN
- SMETA audits
- Project handled – (webinar, WSS-virtual & offline), language expert in creating project materials.
Giriraj has successfully completed more than 2000 audits and 1400 audits as Lead Auditor, social, security and factory evaluation audits according to client’s Code of Conduct and international standards (ETI, BSCI etc). These audits were conducted across industries and geographies within India.
To contact Giriraj for an audit please email: ruchi_prakash@sgs.com
Audit Fees
All audit fees are transparently published and are accessed here.
All audited companies have access to their own Transparency Dashboard administered through the Sustainable Leather Foundation. This tool allows organisations to record their audit results, and to also add any equivalent audit certification from other credible 3rd party schemes such as LWG, ICEC, Oeko-Tex Step for Leather, ISO certification, SA8000, SMETA.
It is the responsibility of the individual audited companies to provide verifiable certification and data to Sustainable Leather Foundation and to keep it updated as necessary.
Brands, retailers and OEMs have their own User Profiles on the Sustainable Leather Foundation’s Transparency Dashboard, and can link their own suppliers together to demonstrate responsible supply chains.
Auditor Code of Conduct
Audit Tools
Our auditing team work in accordance with the Chartered Quality Institute (CQI) and the International Register of Certificated Auditors (IRCA) Code of Conduct to ensure the highest ethical standards and integrity.
All auditors will ensure the following principles of auditing:
Act with integrity at all times
Ensure impartiality and objectivity within the audit
Maintain confidentiality and security of information
Ensure due diligence and professionalism
Ensure fair representation and accurate, truthful reporting
Maintain an evidence based approach
Ensure the adoption of structured audit process to ensure reliable, consistent auditing
Ensure a risk-based approach that considers risks and opportunities for improvement
Sustainable Leather Foundation has created a suite of tools designed to support the leather value chain in their sustainability journey.
Their suite of tools comprise:
SLF Audit Standard Report (ASR) – 3 Modules for Environmental, Social and Governance. Each module can be treated individually or worked on together as one complete package.
SLF Standards and Benchmarks – the foundation upon which the Certification Scheme is assessed. These documents should be read in conjunction with the ASR.
Explanatory Notes and Templates – helpful information to support and guide companies in how to answer the audit questions in the ASR.
- Glossary of Terms and Definitions.
When a company arranges their audit, they will be given access to the suite of tools to help prepare for audit.