Leather alternatives
Research report from the research institute FILK on leather alternatives
In 2021, the research institute FILK published a research report in which leather with possible leather alternatives was examined for their technical properties. Title: „Comparison of the Technical Performance of Leather, Artificial Leather, and Trendy Alternatives”.
In this research work, a wide variety of leather alternatives were compared with the natural product leather. The product names or brands of the examined materials: Desserto®, Kombucha, Pinatex®, Noani® (= no animal), Appleskin®, Vegea®, SnapPap®, Teak Leaf®, und Muskin®.
The materials examined consist of bio-substances and synthetic substances and aim to replace the tanned animal skin with a vegan alternative. A shoe upper leather competed against a synthetic leather and the leather alternatives listed above in this comparison of technical performance.
The result: None of the leather alternatives examined could keep up with the universal properties of genuine leather. Some materials achieved respectable results in individual test areas, but overall the performance of real leather was higher and is not matched by any alternative.
Additional information
- Muskin - MuSkin
- Vegan leather
- Bio leather
- Eco leather
- Wineleather - Wine Leather
- Piñatex - pineapple leather
- Nuvi Releaf
- Artificial leather - Imitation leather
- What materials can be called leather?
- PeTA - People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals
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