Bayer MaterialScience has developed a complete product range for a large number of synthetic leather and specialty coated textile materials using waterborne polyurethane technology for use in footwear, apparel and accessories. In recent years Bayer has focused its development of products for textile applications in the area of waterborne polyurethane dispersions - coating materials that do not utilize solvents.
Bayer says the products have now reached such a stage of development that they enable synthetic leather and coated textiles producers an enormous range of possibilities of hand feel, look, mechanical and chemical durability. They also permit the conversion to manufacturing processes that don't use solvents and may also consume less energy and less water.
The textiles industry is undergoing a dramatic change toward increased sustainability to address social and environmental challenges," Bayer says. "Retailers and manufacturers have growing interest in textiles that are produced using processes and chemistries that are state-of-the-art with respect to minimizing impact on people and the environment. New raw materials are essential to helping the textiles industry bring innovative consumer and industrial goods to market."
