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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, unsuitable, or unusable for ethical reasons.

Historic and upholstery uses

Under the name of artificial leather 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.

[REDACTED]  One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Leather, Artificial". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.

Clothing and fabric uses

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

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.

Corfam

The first poromeric material was DuPont's ill-fated Corfam introduced in 1963 at the Chicago Shoe Show.

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.

Koskin

Koskin is an artificial leather material commonly found in computer laptop cases.

Koskin is very similar to the Swedish (koskinn) and Danish (koskind) words for cowhide/leather, which could cause 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 easily.

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

Brand names

• Biothane: a proprietary material of BioThane Coated Webbing, made from a nylon webbing coated with TPU or PVC, designed to look and feel like leather, but be more durable, more cleanable, and more waterproof than leather.
• Birkibuc: a proprietary material of Birkenstock, made from vinyl and polyamide felt fibres and intended to imitate nubuck leather
• Birko-Flor: a proprietary material of Birkenstock, made from vinyl and polyamide felt fibres and intended to imitate patent leather
• Clarino: used in sports, gloves, automotive, upholstery, fashion, etc.
• Kydex: an acrylic-PVC alloy produced by Kleerdex
• Lorica: a material patented and manufactured by Lorica Sud, an Italian tannery
• Naugahyde
• Rexine: a British proprietary brand of leathercloth used in vehicle trimming and bookbinding.
• Vegetan: a shop-owned trade name for one grade of microfibre
• Fabrikoid: a DuPont brand, cotton cloth coated with nitrocellulose

Other materials

Some other materials that can be used in the production of leather alternatives are:

• Polyvinyl chloride (PVC): Also known as vinyl

Criticism

With a few exceptions, most leather alternatives ('vegan leathers') have been criticised for not being environmentally friendly.

Ethics

Fake leather is an ethical alternative to highly cruel real leather. Leather is the skin of animals who who are brutally killed primarily for their flesh or from cows killed for the sole purpose of being skinned. Buying leather directly supports factory farms and slaughterhouses because skin is the second most important product of the meat industry. In the U.S. alone, millions of cows and other animals who are killed for their skin endure extreme crowding and deprivation as well as castration, branding, tail-docking, and dehorning—all without any painkillers. At slaughterhouses, animals routinely have their throats cut and some are skinned and dismembered while they are still conscious. For Indian leather, cows are killed solely for their skin. Cows are often bought from Indian families who are promised that the cows will be able to live out their lives free from harm. Since the killing of cows is illegal in most of India, cows are forced to walk huge distances without food or water so that they can be killed out of the country of in another area of India. Men twist and break the cows' tails and rub chilli and tobacco into their eyes to force them to keep walking to their deaths.

See also

• Alcantara (material)
• Bonded leather
• Durasoft
• Presstoff
• Ultrasuede

Vegetable-based alternatives

• Cork leather: made from the bark of Cork Oak trees
• Ocean Leather: a leather made from kelp

References

[REDACTED]  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Leather, Artificial". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.

Footnotes

1. "BioThane". BioThane USA.
2. ^ Birkenstock Material Info Birkenstock, Inc.
3. The Lorica "concept": Lorica Sud
4. McCutcheon, Jody. "What the Heck is Vegan Leather?". Eluxe Magazine.
5. Sheppard, Kate (January 24, 2011). "Is Fake Leather Really More Eco-Friendly Than Real?". Mother Jones. Retrieved 20 April 2015.

Cited works

• Faux Real: Genuine Leather and 200 Years of Inspired Fakes, by Robert Kanigel. Joseph Henry Press, 2007.
• "PU Synthetic Leather". Gofar Synthetic Co., Ltd. Retrieved 2005-05-11.
• Kinge A. P., Landage S.M., Wasif A.I. "Nonwoven for Artificial Leather" (PDF). International Journal of Advanced Research in Engineering and Applied Sciences. 2 (2). GARPH Publication. ISSN 2278-6252. Retrieved 2015-01-27.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)

• Leather
• Leathermaking
• Nonwoven fabrics
• Synthetic materials