Compared With Real Leather, Microfiber Leather Shows Its Advantages In Environmental Protection
In the production process of ordinary leather and imitation leather fabrics, chemicals, fillers, replacement agents and a large amount of waste water are used. There are many toxic and harmful substances, such as hexavalent chromium, formaldehyde, DMF, etc., which are not only harmful to the environment during the production process. There is an impact, the environmental treatment cost is high, and it is easy to leave such substances on the fabric.
The synthetic leather industry also has the problem of environmental pollution. At the end of June this year, the rectification plan for reducing the production line of synthetic leather in Wenzhou by 30% has achieved practical results, and it is more likely to complete the integration target on schedule. From the understanding of relevant leading enterprises, the rectification of synthetic leather production capacity has played a more obvious role in promoting the industry. The operating rate and profitability of enterprises have improved significantly compared with the previous ones, and leading enterprises have maintained full capacity production.
Recently, the Wenzhou Municipal People’s Congress conducted a detailed investigation of the remediation of heavy-polluting and high-energy-consuming industries, and conducted field inspections in Longwan, Yueqing and other places. As a heavily polluted synthetic leather industry, due to the need to add plasticizer DOP and stabilizers containing heavy metal elements such as lead and cadmium in its production process, it is difficult to degrade and easily pollute the environment. Developed countries have banned its use. Therefore, according to the rectification requirements, Wenzhou production lines will be reduced by more than 30% before the end of June this year, and more than 50% by the end of December 2015. Data show that the synthetic leather production capacity of Longwan District accounts for nearly 80% of Wenzhou City. There are 84 synthetic leather companies and 311 production lines in the district. At present, Longwan District is carrying out rectification and tackling actions. A total of 82 production lines in 23 companies have stopped production, accounting for 26% of the production lines in the district.
Microfiber leather is the best artificial leather. The texture is very similar to real leather, and the feel is a bit hard. It is difficult for outsiders to tell whether it is genuine leather or recycled leather. Microfiber leather, the full name is microfiber simulation sofa leather, also called recycled leather, is a newly developed high-grade leather in synthetic leather, not genuine leather. The surface layer of the microfiber leather is composed of a polyurethane layer that is similar to the grain layer of natural leather. The base layer is made of microfiber non-woven fabric. Its structure is very similar to the mesh layer of natural leather. Therefore, the microfiber leather is similar to natural leather. Have very similar structure and performance. The product has the advantages of abrasion resistance, cold resistance, breathability, aging resistance, soft texture and beautiful appearance, and has become an ideal choice for replacing natural leather.
Natural leather has strong performance advantages, but the future development will be troubled by the shortage of raw materials and the increase in manufacturing costs due to environmental pollution. To develop, it is necessary to take the road of high-end products. To narrow the gap between microfiber synthetic leather and natural leather, the basic way is to improve the intrinsic properties of microfiber synthetic leather, rather than simply imitating the appearance. China’s leather industry does not only include the processing of natural leather, but mainly relies on the huge scale of leather products. The complementary advantages of natural leather and microfiber synthetic leather will help the sustainable development of the leather industry. Based on the price of microfiber synthetic leather and the advantages of industrialized continuous production, it can solve the shortage of natural leather raw materials as a substitute for middle and low-grade natural leather materials. Natural leather and microfiber synthetic leather will have a certain degree of competition during the development process, rather than inevitable opposites. The final result is complementary advantages and mutual promotion of development.
