How is faux leather made?

There are a wide variety of production processes for synthetic leather. The first-ever synthetic leather Presstoff was manufactured by treating paper pulp using a special type of resin. But it has few drawbacks due to which it slowly became unpopular. However, raw materials such as polyurethane (PU) and polyvinyl chloride (PVC) are used in the manufacturing of faux leather that is present in the market today. The method of binding the underlying layer of these leather with the respective plastic is kind of similar. Let’s see the different steps followed during the manufacturing of faux leather:

• Sourcing base material: For the manufacturing process of faux leather the base material which is needed should be highly porous and should have a rough surface. To satisfy these special properties, the raw materials are specially manufactured for synthetic leather.

• Plastic formulation: For the manufacturing of raw materials the plastics need to be formulated. For the manufacturing of PVC, the raw materials are salt and petroleum. Ethylene is extracted from petroleum and chlorine is obtained from the electrolysis of salt. These two components are then combined to form ethylene dichloride. This is exposed to a high temperature to form vinyl chloride monomer which is further converted into a polymer by combining with polyvinyl chloride resin. To make the final product flexible, plasticizers are added.
Raw materials such as isocyanates, polyols, and various additives are used for the manufacturing of PU plastic which is further treated with plasticizers to add elasticity to it.

• Material binding: For the process of binding the plastic to the base material the plastic is melted and then overlaid on the base fabric. Other than this many other methods are also present.

• Fabric preparation and cutting: after the final product is manufactured, it is sold in the market by yards or either cut into parts to manufacture the final product.