Alcantara (material)
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Alcantara is the name given to a composite material used to cover surfaces and forms in a variety of situations and applications.
The material was developed in the 1970's by Miyoshi Okamoto, a scientist working for the Japanese chemical company Toray [1]. In 1972, a joint venture between Italian chemical company ENI and Toray formed Alcantara S.p.A. in order to manufacture and distribute the material[2].
Alcantara is created via the combination of an advanced spinning process (producing very low denier bi-component "islands in the sea" fibre) and chemical and textile production processes (needle punching, buffing, impregnateion, extraction, finishing, dyeing, etc) which interact with each other.
[edit] Current Applications
As a versatile material, Alcantara is found in a variety of settings. The company outlines applications including furniture, clothing, jewellery, automotive, helmets and more.
The appearance and tactile feel of the material is similar to that of suede, and it may be incorrectly identified as such on occasion. Alcantara can be found in cars produced by Audi, BMW, Lancia, Mercedes-Benz, Mitsubishi, Subaru and Volkswagen, amongst others.
