About

This website has been put together by BLC Leather Technology Centre with input from a network of partners from industry, science and the retail sector who are collaborating to develop a responsive research programme to meet the future expectations of the consumer.

There are two aspects of the project:

	Collection and dissemination of data on consumers' current and future expectations of leather and leather products
	Development of a research programme in response to consumer needs

The LeatherWeb consortium also aims to improve communications between businesses in the supply chain, encourage rapid response to customer needs and improve existing products and processes to benefit both the supply chain and the consumer.

The Innovative Manufacturing Initiative (IMI) is a source of funds for industry-led collaborative research aimed at improving the competitive performance of selected sectors of UK manufacturing industry. The IMI supports high quality strategic and applied research and related training in response to the need for more innovative manufacturing.

The research programme is funded by the UK Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC).

The EPSRC is the largest of the seven research councils responsible for promoting and supporting basic, strategic and applied research for the UK.

Rationale

The largest growing sector of the leather market over the last decade has been domestic and automotive upholstery, where heavily finished leathers are generally used. Although this trend is forecast to continue, consumers are requesting a more natural look, but with no loss of performance.

For upholstery leathers, performance is measured essentially through resistance to abrasion, flex, and water, all of which are drastically improved with the application of finishes. The research programme will address the issue of how the durability of non-heavily finished leather can be improved while retaining a natural appearance.

In leather goods such as hand-bags, wallets, belts and watch straps, the performance characteristics are often very different from those required for upholstery; abrasion resistance may still be required but there is less of a need for flex endurance.

The research programme will investigate what is required of a leather to be termed as having a natural appearance and factors which lead to improved durability will be investigated. Optimisation of existing finishes and development of novel systems will be investigated and these will be benchmarked against both heavily finished and lightly finished commercial leathers.