<p>Over the years, the leather industry has been widely criticized for contributing to environmental degradation. Implementing circular supply chain management (CSCM) practices are crucial for minimizing environmental degradation problems. Identifying influential barriers is necessary to support CSCM implementation. However, limited research has systematically examined and structured the barriers hierarchically while addressing the interrelationship between barriers to identify influential barriers. This paper aims to identify, validate, and prioritize critical barriers regarding the leather industry context. Through a literature review and expert validation, potential barriers were identified, followed by the fuzzy Delphi method to refine key barriers. A hierarchical structure was established, and the fuzzy decision-making trial and evaluation laboratory (FDEMATEL) method was employed to examine cause-effect relationships. Findings highlight policy and regulatory barriers and market and collaboration barriers as primary causal aspects, with key specific barriers including ineffective recycling policies, lack of regulatory support, unsupportive waste management laws, limited green financing, quality issues in recycled products, absence of management commitment, deficient organizational structure, and low enthusiasm for circular practices among partners. This study contributes to literature by presenting a validated hierarchical multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) model to identify causal barriers to CSCM in the leather industry.</p>