Stahl organise upholstery leather finish training course in Mexico

A training course covering the latest technology for producing fashion effects initially focused on upholstery leathers was recently organised by Stahl de México for their customers. The facilities of the laboratories at Stahl de México and CIATEC were used to provide the maximum flexibility and this enabled the course to be extended to include shoes, leathergoods and upgrading in which the delegates expressed a serious interest. Peter Jessop from Stahl International bv in Waalwijk, the Netherlands and Robert Venuto, an upholstery leather and aftermarket specialist from Stahl USA in Peabody, Massachusetts had been asked by the local Tanners Chamber to run the course and they were supported by José Pedroza from the Stahl de México technical service team. A variety of corrected grain and split leathers were prepared in advance by both the tanners and by Stahl's Colours and Tanning Products Division to provide a selection of suitable crust leathers from differing origins. Non-yellowing white leather, upgrading techniques and the production of wash-off, buff-off, natural, full grain imitation, antique, oil pull-up and maquillage effects were demonstrated on these, creating a great deal of interest among the delegates. Products used included an upgrading pre-base, cationic and other non-ionic upgrading products with which conventional anionic pigments could be mixed, and a newly-developed carbodiimide crosslinker that was introduced to enable the production of easy-to-mix solvent-free top coats and selections of top coats, modifiers, lacquer emulsions, compact resins and others. A novel feature of the course was that it ran from 4.00-8.00pm each evening thus minimising the need for everyone to take time-off from work, something which was much appreciated by all involved.