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Content: The value chain of leather is complex and originates from the animal husbandry system to meat processing, pre tanning, tanning, post tanning and product manufacturing processing. The imbibed properties of the material gained from the environmental conditions under which the animal grew to the range of human skills and processing chemicals determines how best the leather products meet the customer desires. The customer desire for feel and handle is ultimately traced back to the origin of the animal itself. Leather thus is a unique product whose properties such as visco-elasticity, breathability etc. remained unmatched by synthetics. Industrialization activities, reduced farming, the vegan culture all have contributed to reduced availability of hides and skins for meeting the quantity of leather required for various end products. This in essence contributed to the growth of a new market for synthetics, wherein the manmade fabrics tried to reproduce all the features of leather, synthetically. Commercially, these products came to be known through various names such as leatherette, faux leather, vegan leather, PU leather, pleather etc. Advancement in material science led to a range of products and manufacturing methods has today ensured that conventional identification techniques such as rough edges, imperfect surfaces, wrinkle test, water absorption, burnability, uneven stitch holes, structure retention, smell, grain pattern can no longer be used to distinguish between leather and similar artificial products. Advancement in technology for the manufacture of various types of leather like materials has made it difficult to identify genuine leather from other leather like materials. With leather like materials meeting most of the conventional methods of identifying genuine leather there is today a need for a new methodology for identifying genuine leather. This paper addresses to a study of a statistically relevant number of samples of leather and non-leather materials through a range of iterative instrumental techniques leading to the establishment of a protocol for identification of genuine leather. The methodology starts with the FTIR-ATR based (non-destructive) identification of signature bands of collagen – the amide I, II and III. After the first level screening, iterative analysis of samples that have the amide bands matching with that of collagen would be screened through techniques such as hydroxyproline estimation, thermogravimetric analysis, fibre structure assessment etc. The paper would report the results, the positives and negatives associated with the first level screening for genuine leather using FTIR. Take-Away: 1. A method for identifying genuine leather. 2. Value addition to leather by way of facile identification. 3. Customer satisfaction. |
