Toray Industries has announced the upcoming launch of Ultrasuede BX, a nonwoven material with a suede texture that is made of approximately 30% plant-based raw materials.
The new product offering is said to be the world's first nonwoven material with a suede texture using plant-based polyurethane
Launching in January 2019, the material realises the highest proportion of plant-based raw materials – polyester and polyurethane in this case – in the world, says Toray. It claims that Ultrasuede BX is the world’s first nonwoven material with a suede texture using plant-based polyurethane.
Toray plans to market Ultrasuede BX as an environmentally-friendly material that offers both high sensitivity and functionality in wide-ranging applications such as automotive interiors, fashion and upholstery. It aims for sales of 500 million yen from the product in fiscal year 2019 and 3 billion yen in fiscal year 2023.
According to Toray, a nonwoven material with a suede texture is manufactured by impregnating the three-dimensionally entangled structure of polyester ultra-fine fibres with polyurethane, coagulating it and buffing to form a suede-like surface structure.
“Ultrasuede BX uses polyester polymerised with ethylene glycol made from waste molasses of sugarcane and polyurethane composed of polyol made of castor oil from the inedible castor oil plant, which gives the suede texture material the world’s highest content of plant-based raw materials by around 30%,” says Toray.
The company continues: “Before it, polyurethane made of plant-based raw materials faced technical issues with physical properties, such as low durability and hand, and could not be used for a nonwoven material with a suede texture. To solve these issues, Toray used its unique design technology from polymer to product structure and polyurethane coagulation technology and succeeded in the development of Ultrasuede BX, which has high levels of plant-based raw materials, superior feeling and functionality such as high durability, air permeability and easy maintenance.”
Toray has been marketing Ultrasuede PX since 2016. The addition of Ultrasuede PX to the brand’s product line-up reportedly expands the company’s deployment of a nonwoven material with a suede texture that realises both sustainability and creation.
