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Alcantara Now On A Variety Of Luxury Lifestyle Products

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Published
09/28/2016 by

Alcantara, the Italian-made luxury material used to outfit car interiors, is finding a niche for itself within a variety of consumer and luxury lifestyle industries as well.

Well-known luxury and consumer product manufacturers are creating original designs with Alcantara's high-tech, sustainable materials, including:

  • Microsoft uses Alcantara for its Signature Type Cover for the Surface Pro 3 and 4 convertible tablets. Reasons for using Alcantara included the material's "durability, soft touch and its ability to age beautifully," according to Microsoft's website. 
  • Panasonic offers Alcantara to cover the non-image portions of its TX-65CZ950 OLED TV, transforming a free standing television into contemporary furniture.
  • Master & Dynamic, a New York City-based producer of premium audio equipment, recently introduced its new MH30 and MH40 on-ear audiophile headphones with Alcantara to cover headbands and ear cups.
  • Daikin, the Japanese multinational manufacturer, a world leader in air conditioning systems, uses Alcantara to personalize the front panels of its Daikin Emura Limited Edition in-home air conditioners in a choice of thirty distinctive finishes.
  • Italia Independent, a producer of artisanal eyewear, makes use of Alcantara to create innovative soft-touch frames for a premier line of sun glasses.

"Design and fashion will increasingly affect the competitive edge in the technological world," says Andrea Borgano, Alcantara's chairman and CEO. "Alcantara is the perfect material to convey high-tech products' emotion-driven factors. This is why we have for years invested in this sector. It's precisely because we think Alcantara is the best interpreter of this ongoing trend."

Alcantara's partnerships in the consumer electronics business are expected to be worth more than 20 million euros over the next three years.

To achieve these earnings Alcantara, headquartered in Milan with production and research-and-development facilities in Nera Montoro, Italy, expects to grow from 518 to 570 workers in 2016 due to its expansion into China and theUSA. These two markets each represent more than 13 percent of Alcantara's output, while sales in Japan reflect early signs of market acceptance. More than 66 percent of sales remain in Alcantara's traditional European market.

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