Repurpose with Purpose is Southwest Airlines’® award-winning global environmental sustainability initiative that upcycles aircraft seat leather, helping keep waste out of landfills.
The program was founded in 2014 after Southwest updated their seat design, resulting in 43 acres of aircraft seat leather that was no longer needed. The updated seat design included a lighter weight leather, which removed 600 pounds from each aircraft thereby increasing the fuel efficiency of each flight.
After traveling millions of miles in the sky to connect Southwest Customers to what is important in their lives, this aircraft seat leather is then transformed into new products by community partners.
Since 2014, Southwest has donated more than $2.0 million in grants and 1.4 million pounds of leather to provide employment, skills training, and other social benefits for communities.