Artificial leather

Artificial leather is a fabric or finish intended to substitute for leather in fields such as upholstery, clothing and fabrics, and other uses where a leather-like finish is required but the actual material is cost-prohibitive or unsuitable.

Historic and upholstery uses

Under the name of artificial leather (not to be confused with the more modern Pleather) or American leather cloth, large quantities of a material having a more or less leather-like surface were once used, principally for upholstery purposes, such as the covering of chairs, lining the tops of writing desks and tables, and so on.

There was considerable diversity in the preparation of such materials. A common variety consisted of a web of calico coated with boiled linseed oil mixed with dryers and lampblack or other pigment. Several coats of this mixture were uniformly spread, smoothed and compressed on the cotton surface by passing it between metal rollers, and when the surface was required to possess a glossy enamel-like appearance, it received a finishing coat of copal varnish. A grained morocco surface was given to the material by passing it between suitably embossed rollers.

Preparations of this kind have a close affinity to cloth waterproofed with rubber, and to such manufactures as ordinary waxcloth. An artificial leather which was patented and proposed for use as soles for boots, etc., was composed of powdered scraps and cuttings of leather mixed with solution of guttapercha dried and compressed. In place of the guttapercha solution, oxidized linseed oil or dissolved resin could be used as the binding medium for the leather powder.

Clothing and fabric uses

Synthetic leathers, at times made from plastics, are often used in clothing and fabrics. Artificial leather is marketed under many brands, including "leatherette," "faux leather", "Naugahyde" and "pleather".

Plastic leather

The term pleather ("plastic leather") is a slang term for synthetic leather made of plastic. The term was coined by Amy Bach, when working in New York for Millis clothing. Upon the arrival of a new line, a plastic leather, Amy needed a way to advertise the product to customers without calling it plastic. She thus came up with the term Pleather. A portmanteau of plastic and leather, the term is sometimes used derogatorily, implying use as a substitute for genuine hide to cut costs. Besides cost, pleather may also be preferred because it is lighter than leather, or as an alternative to real leather citing reasons of animal cruelty. Pleather, being made of plastic, will not decompose as quickly.

Not all pleathers are the same. Polyurethane is washable, can be dry-cleaned and allows some air to flow through the garment. PVC pleather in contrast does not "breathe" and is difficult to clean. PVC cannot be dry-cleaned because the cleaning solvents can make the PVC unbearably stiff.

Vegan leather

Vegan Chelsea boots

Vegan Leather is an artificial alternative to traditional leather. It may be chosen for ethical reasons or as a designed material which may have different properties, but a similar look to the natural material. There is also no difference between vegan leather and artificial leather alternatives, other than being marketed as "Certified Vegan Leather" to target niche consumers.

Types

Poromeric Imitation Leather

Sometimes referred to as poromerics, poromeric imitation leathers are a group of synthetic 'breathable' leather substitutes made from a plastic coating (usually a polyurethane) on a fibrous base layer (typically a polyester). The term poromeric was coined by DuPont as a derivative of the terms microporous and polymeric. The first poromeric material was DuPont's ill-fated Corfam introduced in 1963 at the Chicago Shoe Show. Newer poromerics include Clarino made by Kuraray Co. of Japan.

Corfam was the centerpiece of the DuPont pavilion at the 1964 New York World's Fair in New York City. Its major advantages over natural leather were its durability and its high gloss finish that could be easily cleaned with a damp cloth. Its disadvantages were its stiffness which did not lessen with wearing, its relative lack of breathability, and easy confusion with non-breathable cheaper products. DuPont manufactured Corfam at its plant in Old Hickory, Tennessee, from 1964 to 1971. After spending millions of dollars marketing the product to shoe manufacturers, DuPont withdrew Corfam from the market in 1971 and sold the rights to a company in Poland.

Corfam is still used today in some products, an example being certain types of equestrian saddle girth. Corfam shoes are still popular in uniformed professions where shiny shoes are desirable, including the United States Army, which uses Corfam shoes as its standard dress shoe.

Koskin

Koskin is an artificial leather material commonly found in computer laptop cases. It is commonly used in Hewlett-Packard, Targus and Belkin laptop cases, CD wallets, and other consumer goods. It is made to look and feel like authentic leather.

In Swedish, koskinn means cow's skin (ko means cow, skinn means skin), causing much confusion for consumers.

Leatherette

Leatherette is a form of artificial leather, usually made by covering a fabric base with plastic. The fabric can be made of a natural or a synthetic fibre which is then covered with a soft PVC layer.

Leatherette bound books and 20th century cameras are good examples of leatherette. Leatherette clothing of various kinds (including lingerie) also exist.

A disadvantage of plastic "leatherette" is that it is not porous and does not allow air to pass through it; thus, sweat can accumulate if it is used for clothing, car seat coverings, etc. One of its primary advantages, especially in cars, is that it requires little maintenance in comparison to leather, and does not crack or fade as easily.

During a fire, leatherette may cause serious skin damage, because it burns more vigorously than leather and can melt.

Others

There are many other materials that can be used as leather alternatives. Some of these materials are:

• Vegetan — a shop-owned trade name for one grade of microfibre
• Lorica — a wide range of Japanese microfibres including gloss-faced ones, dyed and softened in Italy. A type of artificial leather promoted by Sidi, an Italian bicycle shoe maker.
• Birko-Flor — this proprietary material of Birkenstock is made of acrylic and polyamide felt fibres; a variation is made to replicate patent leather
• Birkibuc — another proprietary material of Birkenstock, made of the same materials, but designed to replicate the look and feel of nubuck leather
• Vinyl also known as PVC
• Kydex — an acrylic-PVC alloy produced by Kleerdex
• Cork Leather — made from the bark of Cork Oak trees
• Ocean Leather — a little known versatile leather made from kelp
• Rexine - a British proprietary brand of leathercloth used in vehicle trimming and bookbinding.

See also

• Leather
• Bonded leather
• Ultrasuede
• Alcantara
• Presstoff

References

• This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. {{cite encyclopedia}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)

Faux Real: Genuine Leather and 200 Years of Inspired Fakes, by Robert Kanigel. Joseph Henry Press, 2007.

External links

• Veganline.com's guide to why use a vegan alternative