FILK exposé of leather alternatives on forum programme
Co-general manager Freiberg-based leather research body FILK, Dr Michael Meyer, will be one of the speakers at this year’s CSCB Sustainability Forum.
Run as part of the Brazilian Leather promotional project and jointly organised by the country’s main leather industry body, CICB, and its exports promotions agency APEX Brasil, the forum will take place online on December 8 and 9.
Dr Meyer will speak on the first day and will present to the audience the story behind research that FILK carried out earlier this year into the composition of nine prominent materials that manufacturers present as alternatives to leather.
FILK concluded that technical progress among the manufacturers of synthetic materials has led to some of these having “individual properties that are similar here and there to leather’s”. However, it found that none of the tested substitutes could “truly be called an alternative to leather”. The tests also uncovered the fibres used in these materials, which some manufacturers have been reluctant to reveal.
It said that a number of these materials, commonly lauded as sustainable, contain polyurethane, PVC, or polyamide microfibres.
FILK published the results in a paper called ‘Comparison of the Technical Performance of Leather and Trendy Alternatives’.
