SK Chemicals, Gima, and Consciousware Join Forces to Develop Eco-Friendly Premium Leather

Vegan leather bag made with a coating agent containing Ecotrion. Photo by Naiks

[Asia Economy Reporter Donghoon Jung] SK Chemicals is attracting attention from the fashion industry by developing eco-friendly bio materials.

On the 16th, SK Chemicals announced that it has developed eco-friendly synthetic leather by applying the natural bio material "Ecotrion" in collaboration with eco-friendly leather company Gima Co., Ltd. and social enterprise Consciousware Co., Ltd.

Synthetic leather, which replaces natural leather, includes recycled leather from waste leather, upcycled leather scraps, and vegan leather made from ingredients extracted from pineapple, grapes, cactus, mushrooms, and more. However, recycled leather and vegan leather still had to use petrochemical-based polyurethane coatings to enhance surface texture and durability.

SK Chemicals stated that it supported the development of more eco-friendly synthetic leather by replacing the petrochemical-based coating materials used in synthetic leather production with Ecotrion, a 100% plant-based material, achieving excellent synthetic leather quality. Eco-friendly synthetic leather using Ecotrion has a smoother surface and higher elasticity and recovery of the leather surface compared to existing products.

Gima, which produces eco-friendly leather materials, manufactures eco-friendly synthetic leather applied with SK Chemicals' Ecotrion, and Consciousware, a social enterprise, plans to showcase it as a premium leather product line for handbags, living, and automotive-related products.

Gima produces not only vegan leather but also recycled leather made by compressing waste leather powder generated during leather processing and upcycled leather made by finely crushing discarded leather scraps and laminating them onto recycled fibers, exporting these to famous overseas fashion brands. Consciousware has introduced various eco-friendly products such as upcycled cow leather and cactus leather products under the sustainable fashion brand "nakes," which enhances the design and usability of recycled materials.

Seoin A, CEO of Consciousware, said, "We will continue step-by-step improvements through continuous raw material and technology development to create eco-friendly leather throughout its entire lifecycle," adding, "We will focus not only on leather fabric technology development but also on product planning and development to demonstrate differentiation from other global companies' products with excellent visuals at product launch."

Jaejun Jung, Head of New Business Development at SK Chemicals, said, "Sustainability and ethical consumption aligned with the carbon-neutral era are becoming important global issues," and added, "We plan to respond to the steadily growing eco-friendly fashion market with prepared chemical recycling materials and bio materials."

Meanwhile, in April, SK Chemicals established the world's first mass production system for the bio polyol (PO3G) product Ecotrion and supplied Ecotrion, which reduces greenhouse gas emissions by about 40% compared to existing petrochemical products, as synthetic leather seats for Hyundai Motor's GV60.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.