New identity for Letex

Letex Leather Chemicals exhibited at Tanning Tech for the first time this year under their new identity. The new company were formed from Neochimica Italia and Chimes. Neochimica had thirty years' experience of wet-end production from beamhouse products to fatliquors. Chimes had followed a different path becoming a specialist in finishing with their own production plant. Claudio Bortolati explained that the merger was advantageous because the existing factories are located very close to each other and each company brings expertise of a different area, as well as having previously focused on a different market. Neochimica Italia were more present in the Far East whilst Chimes concentrated on Latin America and western markets. The companies have come together to overcome the current difficulties facing the leather industry in this market. Letex are now formed of three partners. Vice presidents Paolo Armelli and Claudio Bortolati were school friends and have maintained a close relationship ever since. They are currently awaiting ISO certification which should be granted in the next three months. The merger has enabled better orientated marketing, clients' demands are better satisfied as there are teams of sales people and technicians specific to each market. Letex are one of a few Italian companies that have complete production from beamhouse to finishing. Their new facility covers an area of 20,000 sq m, housing three production plants and a team of 60 research and development specialists. Letex launched the following new chemicals at Tanning Tech: Beamhouse auxiliary Inlime 012 is a Letex speciality and has an excellent stability to high pH and to the usual hair removers used in liming. It is a concentrated blend of enzymes for liming difficult raw materials such as bull or buffalo hides, providing more open skins with a very flat leather and clean grain. In particular, treating buffalo with Inlime 012 gives a more homogenous effect on the total area and makes it more suitable for use in upholstery. In combination with Letex's beamhouse auxiliary AN924, it gives best results in opening the neck. New Neotan W liquid is an amphoteric retanning agent with protein addiction. It replaces the usual syntan with the same fullness and tightness achieving a 40% more intense dyeing in the process. Fatliquoring offers excellent heat and lightfastness. Neofat 330 conc is a light yellow transparent liquid synthetic ester which gives light, very soft and full leather with excellent cost efficiency. It is suitable for all kinds of leather including upholstery, clothing and nappa. Completely odour free, it is appropriate for use on economic furniture articles in combination with sulfited oils in order to improve general fastness and give lightness to the leather. Neofat 68N lecithin emulsion has an excellent affinity with leather fibres which is very useful for garment nappa giving particular touch and softness to every kind of leather. It does not have strong penetrating power and for this reason, they suggest it be used in conjunction with their sulfited oils. It gives the leather a unique warm handle and a soft touch. New finishing products: FYL wax K04 is an aqueous emulsion of cationic waxes. During cationic finishing, FYL wax K 04 can be used in all cases where the bottom assembly has to be slightly opaque and to give the leather a soft and silky touch. It provides an improved waxy and full touch with good covering effects. Hydrograde MO2 is an aliphatic polyurethane with touch modifiers. It is used as a top coat in waterbased finishing. It gives very good rub fastness, wet and dry, and a good waxy touch. It is particularly suitable for the fixing of furniture or garment leather and it gives good characteristics of solidity and a 'hot and soft' coat. Patt N Stucco for car seats only is a paste recommended for spatula application on full grain leather. Patt N is a thickened paste that covers holes, cuts and frizzing in the leather to conceal and eliminate all defects.