Clariant is another company that will have innovation on show at the Guangzhou Shoe & Leather Fair, a new collection of leathers for shoe uppers, handbags, garments and upholstery, based on Spring-Summer 2009 colour and fashion trends.

The company says its theme is to combine the natural beauty of leather with the look and performance to suit any need, using innovative techniques that will also suit the environment. Under the motto, Sense the difference—Feel the fashion, Clariant will s

Highlights from the wet end include chrome-free leather, using Clariant’s pretanning system Granofin FCC with the retanning agent Tanicor SCU. Tergotan PMB and Tergotan TSP Intelligent polymer retanning agents for even softness, tightness and grain pattern will also feature in Guangzhou.

Derminol SJB and Derminol NLM are two fatliquors that can be combined in different ratios to impart softness together with grain lubrication and tightness to the leather, while Melioderm dyestuffs will also feature.                                                   

The company will also present a number of innovations on the finishing side.

There will be new upgrading techniques for higher cutting yields based on the Melio Aquabase, and Melio Grounds systems, solutions for lower-grade raw materials. Further highlights include new water-based topcoat products, which complement the existing range.

One example will be Melio 06-N-02, a polymer dispersion with high filling substances that can be used to cover deep defects and make them invisible after finishing. Clariant says the product is suitable for a wide range of leathers, including automotive, shoe upper and upholstery leathers.

Melio RN-03 and Melio RN-04 are also part of the range. The company describes them as very strong filling products especially developed for reverse roller coater applications. Both products are used to fill up deep crust defects to make them invisible after finishing. RN-03 has the lower viscosity. Both products can be mixed easily to adjust the viscosity to achieve the best results possible. These two products can be used for various leathers, for example car upholstery, furniture, shoe upper (e.g. brush-off and college type), splits, and so on.

Aqualen Top LN.A, Clariant’s new ecological topcoat product for aqueous
patent leather imitation, will also be on show. This product has been developed, the company says, to meet highest physical and gloss-level requirements. It is an aqueous, modified, aliphatic polyurethane dispersion. Application can be as usual, by reverse roller coater, but in response to market demands Aqualen Top LN.A can also be applied by spraying techniques. “This new and really unique characteristic offers the finisher a new world of application possibilities,” Clariant claims.

Another brand new development, especially for soft leathers such as furniture leather or shoe upper nappas, is the new topcoat system based on Aqualen Top DC-2050 (dull) and Aqualen Top GC-2051 (gloss). Both products can be mixed in any ratio in order to adjust the desired level of gloss or dullness. Common for both products and so for the whole system is the very elegant optic as a result of the softness, very high resistance to both rubbing and flexing, no hardening even after a long period of time, a very natural appearance and pleasant feel.

Neosan 2000, which Clariant describes as an “intelligent pigment system”, is another part of the new offering. It works with colour matching technology to give “true and brilliant colours”.

Apart from that, there will three new fashionable shades in the Supronil HK range of dyes, a new pull-up wax, PO-408-US, for conventional and water-resistant pull-up leathers and a new coater product, P-30, to improve the solvent- and light-resistance of leather.