Questions about synthetic leather

[kenny1999]

1. How many types of man-made leather (for clothing) ?

2. Do they often have fairly the same composition but only a slight variation? Or
could they vary a lot?

3. I have been hearing that man-made or faux leather could be hazardous to health.

4. Are the risks due to the chemical itself or other chemicals / addictives used
in the manufacturing process?

5. Do the risks naturally exist because of the nature of the chemicals itself or do they only exist if it's manufactured by inappropriate or illegal process?

6. Is there any sign that we can determine if it's a "risky" leather? Many people said that to check if it has strong and unpleasant smell. Is it true?
Does the extent of the smell reflect the risk of the leather?

7. Is there anything we can do to eliminate or reduce the possible risks that
come from the man-made / faux leather products?
 

Thanks !!

[dimreepr]

18 minutes ago, kenny1999 said:

3. I have been hearing that man-made or faux leather could be hazardous to health.

Who's health???

19 minutes ago, kenny1999 said:

7. Is there anything we can do to eliminate or reduce the possible risks that
come from the man-made / faux leather products?

two things:

1/ we use leather...

2/ we stop wanting to use a leather type product...

[Strange]

1 hour ago, dimreepr said:

Who's health???

Not the cows

1 hour ago, kenny1999 said:

3. I have been hearing that man-made or faux leather could be hazardous to health.

Where have you heard that?

If it were true, its use would not be permitted.

Do you worry about the chemicals used to cure and dye real leather?

1 hour ago, kenny1999 said:

7. Is there anything we can do to eliminate or reduce the possible risks that
come from the man-made / faux leather products?

Don't use them, if you are worried.

[kenny1999]

On 6/9/2020 at 11:35 PM, Strange said:

Not the cows

Where have you heard that?

If it were true, its use would not be permitted.

Do you worry about the chemicals used to cure and dye real leather?

Don't use them, if you are worried.

 

You can find a lot of information on the web, not necessarily verified, but they are about health risks of synthetic leather.

On the other hand, most leather products (whether they are synthetic or real), sometimes they can give

out unpleasant odor, this is what we can easily find.

I cannot avoid using synthetic leather, at least at the moment, I am not looking for comfort, but looking for the truth.

If it is really that serious, I will stop using it.

Edited June 12, 2020 by kenny1999

[dimreepr]

12 minutes ago, kenny1999 said:

I cannot avoid using synthetic leather, at least at the moment, I am not looking for comfort

Unless you're a vegan goth, yes you can.

15 minutes ago, kenny1999 said:

looking for the truth.

If it is really that serious, I will stop using it.

The truth or an excuse?

[Strange]

27 minutes ago, kenny1999 said:

You can find a lot of information on the web, not necessarily verified, but they are about health risks of synthetic leather.

You can find anything on the web. That doesn't mean it is true, or even "information".

Presumably, those people  talking about the supposed "health risks of synthetic leather" are claiming it is "not natural" or some such nonsense.

If you can't provide an example of what you retaking about then it is hard to comment. But I would suggest it is probably nonsense.

27 minutes ago, kenny1999 said:

On the other hand, most leather products (whether they are synthetic or real), sometimes they can give

out unpleasant odor, this is what we can easily find.

I just walked past our local leather-workers shop. It smells very strongly. I think it is a rather nice smell. Someone else might think it is unpleasant.

You need more than subjective opinions.

27 minutes ago, kenny1999 said:

I cannot avoid using synthetic leather, at least at the moment

Of course you can. No one needs synthetic leather (or even real leather).

27 minutes ago, kenny1999 said:

I am not looking for comfort, but looking for the truth.

The truth about what? You need to let us know what you are talking about. Something more specific than "you can find stuff on the Internet"

27 minutes ago, kenny1999 said:

If it is really that serious, I will stop using it.

Really how serious?

You have posted nothing to suggest that it is in the least bit serious.

 

[Enthalpy]

Wide variety of materials.

What has become extremely common is "reconstructed leather", which is a plastic resin loaded with fibres from leftovers of real leather. Goods manufacturers use it as a cheap replacement and label it "leather" with absolutely no distinctive word nor label. Possibly, legislation allow that when the mass proportion exceeds 50%.

The polymer matrix is often polyurethane, which interferes with our hormone mechanisms. It can also be other polymers, very often loaded with plasticizers to imitate leather's bendability, and these plasticizers use to be toxic and migrate out of the polymer over time.

So consumers can legitimately dismiss reconstructed leather, as well as leather-free polymer imitates. Alas, they are very difficult to distinguish from true leather.

On a picture, it's about impossible. Where leather is bent, especially goat leather, it makes finer wrinkles than reconstructed leather. Under the fingers, true leather is tackier, quite different. The odour differs too, for those people who knew true leather.

Because consumers can legitimately dismiss reconstructed leather but have nearly no means to distinguish it on a picture, I wish legislation to impose different words and logos for reconstructed leather.

[Strange]

5 hours ago, Enthalpy said:

The polymer matrix is often polyurethane, which interferes with our hormone mechanisms.

Citation needed

5 hours ago, Enthalpy said:

Goods manufacturers use it as a cheap replacement and label it "leather" with absolutely no distinctive word nor label. Possibly, legislation allow that when the mass proportion exceeds 50%.

Citation needed 

5 hours ago, Enthalpy said:

It can also be other polymers, very often loaded with plasticizers to imitate leather's bendability, and these plasticizers use to be toxic and migrate out of the polymer over time.

Citation needed 

 

[Enthalpy]

General knowledge, it doesn't need a specific citation.

Edited September 6, 2020 by Enthalpy

[dimreepr]

53 minutes ago, Enthalpy said:

General knowledge, it doesn't need a specific citation.

Depends on who generally knows it.