• The sustainable fashion market is paying attention to SK chemicals’ naturally-derived bio-based materials
• Green material, eco-friendly leather, and sustainable fashion are collaborating to grow the fashion industry’s eco-friendly trend

SK chemicals’ eco-friendly bio-based materials are receiving attention in the sustainable fashion market.

SK chemicals (CEO: Jeon Kwang-hyun) announced on the 16th that the company has developed an eco-friendly artificial leather by applying its naturally-derived bio-based material, ECOTRION, in partnership with Kima, an eco-friendly leather company, and Conscious Wear, a social enterprise.

Artificial leather, a material for replacing natural leather in its applications, includes recycled waste leather, upcycled leather scraps, and vegan leather made from ingredients extracted from pineapples, grapes, cacti, and mushrooms. However, even recycled leather and vegan leather require using a petrochemical-based polyurethane coating agent to increase the surface texture and durability.

SK chemicals announced that the company has funded the development of an enhanced eco-friendly artificial leather that retains the excellent quality of synthetic leather. The petrochemical-based coating material used in the production of artificial leather will be replaced with ECOTRION, a 100% bio-based material. Eco-friendly artificial leather produced using ECOTRION has the advantage of having a softer surface feel and greater elasticity and resilience compared to existing products.

Kima, a producer of eco-friendly leather materials, plans to produce eco-friendly artificial leather while using the SK chemicals’ ECOTRION. Then Conscious Wear, a social enterprise, plans to use the material to produce a premium leather product line for handbags, household goods, and automobile-related leather products.

Kima produces not only vegan leather, but also recycled leather made by pressing waste leather powder from the leather manufacturing process and upcycled leather that is mixed with recycled fibers by crushing discarded leather scraps. The company then exports these materials to famous international fashion brands. Conscious Wear has introduced various eco-friendly products with their sustainable fashion brand “nakes”, which showcases products created with upcycled cowhide, cactus leather, and other eco-friendly materials.

Seo In-ah, CEO of Conscious Wear, said, “We will continue to make phased improvements through the development of raw materials and technologies to create leather that is eco-friendly throughout its entire production cycle. Furthermore, the company will not stop at developing leather fabric technology. We will also focus on product planning and development to showcase bio-friendly products with excellent designs that stand apart from other global brands.”

"In line with the shared goal of achieving carbon neutrality, sustainability and ethical consumption are topics of much global attention," said Jeong Jae-joon, head of SK chemicals’ New Business Development Division. He added, "We plan to respond to the steadily growing eco-friendly fashion market with our chemically recycled and bio-based materials." Meanwhile, in April, SK chemicals established the world's first mass production system of ECOTRION, a bio polyol (PO3G) product with 40% less greenhouse gas emissions compared to existing petrochemical products. The company supplied ECOTRION to Hyundai Motors, which uses the production of artificial leather sheets in its GV60.


# Photo Description : A vegan leather bag created with ECOTRION as the coating agent (Source: nakes)