Southwest Airlines

LuvSeat project

Challenge

Southwest Airlines retrofitted 500 airplanes and replaced 84,000 airline seats with new e-leather as  part of their Evolve sustainability program. The challenge was what to do with 43 acres of beautiful leather seats.

Solution

Southwest Airlines reached out to GoodMakers Films, our US based NGO working in connection with our Kenyan based production company, What’s Good Studios.

Our team designed a sustainable program that includes leather works training for marginalized youth,  community partners who will up cycle the leather into products that highlight social causes including; soccer balls that teach HIV/Aids prevention through sports, shoes to prevent jiggers- a devastating condition of flesh decay caused by bugs, and backpacks for school children who would otherwise carry heavy books many miles as they walk to school every day.

Results

Southwest Airlines is replicating this model throughout the world and has set the corporate bar for CSR programs throughout the airline industry, highlighting that it’s possible to do well by doing good.

The Southwest LUV Seat Project has been featured on various online platforms. Such as Forbes, the Guardian, CNN and SOS USA