Mercedes, BMW and Volkswagen are among automotive original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) to have begun testing textile materials that contain a new coating developed from leather waste.

Called Phoenix, the coating comes from Portugal and is the result of a project run by textile research body Citeve with the support of Alcanena-based leather research and testing centre, CTIC, and technical textile manufacturer ERT Têxtil Portugal.

Director of innovation at ERT, David Macário, said the challenge will be to make Phoenix at a competitive price to make the project economically viable.

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