Hyundai Transys unveiled its future mobility concept seat at the Lineapelle International Leather Fair held in Milan, Italy. Here are the details of its uniqueness.
Leather is a traditional material that has been with mankind and is used very often in the automotive industry – especially car seats. Car seats have been developed by focusing on the comfortable and safe travel of passengers and improvement of the emotional quality of the interior. But now automobiles – no, mankind – have entered the green era. And it’s time for a change in the leather industry. For this reason, Hyundai Transys was invited to the Lineapelle International Leather Fair 2022 held from February 22 to 24 and unveiled the future concept seat of mobility.
The Lineapelle International Leather Fair, which started in 1981, is the world’s largest international leather fair held in Milan, Italy. Currently, more than 1,200 companies from 40 countries participate in the exhibition, and more than 42,000 visitors from the leather industry visit the site. But the Lineapelle International Leather Fair isn’t just a show for leather goods; It is also a place where suppliers share trends and present new concepts for the future of leather.
Hyundai Transys also presented a new concept for the future of leather at the 2022 Lineapelle International Leather Fair recently. The company’s future mobility concept seat was unveiled under the Shift to Regenerative Mobility concept. Hyundai Transys has newly defined a new concept of mobility that reflects sustainable materials through the future mobility concept seat. It captures the latest mobility trends such as autonomous vehicles and electric vehicles, while discovering and utilizing future eco-friendly materials.
Some may wonder why Hyundai Transys unveiled its future mobility concept seat at a leather show, not at an auto show; This is because they put sustainability first. Leather is the major finishing material for car seats. If we could make our leather products a little bit greener, and if this could help us save resources, it would be good for our environment.
Therefore, Hyundai Transys decided to use the leather innovation necessary for car seats for the sustainability of mankind – reducing waste of resources and pollution, for example. Conventional leather used a lot of water to dye. Therefore, Hyundai Transys introduced an eco-friendly vegetable tanning method (using eco-friendly materials) from the production process. Also, the company searched for ways to use leather that could not be used because of mosquito bites or wounds, or pieces of leather thrown away after making car seats.
In fact, this can be a difficult goal for a single company. First of all, they will need craftsmen in their respective fields; Hyundai Transys has worked with companies in Korea and Italy. All materials used in Hyundai Transys future mobility concept seat were only possible thanks to the cooperation of Italian tanneries boasting innovative processing techniques and Korean material companies with renewable material manufacturing techniques. Under the goal of “realizing sustainability,” the auto parts industry and the leather industry shared experience, know-how, technology, and innovation across borders.
or this reason, Hyundai Transys’ future mobility concept seat is even more special. For example, for the main seat part, they developed natural leather manufactured by the Italian Dani group using an eco-friendly method, and a fabric woven by combining a thread made of discarded leather with a polyethylene terephthalate (PET) yarn. ATKO Planning and Duol from Korea developed this new recycled material.
It has a feel of both leather and fabric. This is because the leather left over from the seat manufacturing process is powdered and then spun into yarn, and the fabric is made with 30% leather and 70% recycled plastic. Of course, you can make fabric using only leather threads. However, strength and durability are both important for all the materials used in automobiles. Therefore, Hyundai Transys’ future mobility concept seat was manufactured by combining natural leather with other materials.
There is another way to utilize the scrap leather that is thrown away from the automobile manufacturing process. The bolster part of the seat of the future mobility concept was made through the weaving method – making a pattern by twisting long-cut leather. It was made possible thanks to the know-how of the Italian leather company Domodossola. This method minimizes waste when cutting leather.
The effort of Hyundai Transys towards sustainability does not end here. The company has applied a variety of sustainable materials across all segments of its future mobility concept seat – including wool felt on the dashboard and 3D-printed structured headrests from recycled aluminum powder. The body of the seat was also made by recycling the seat mockup of an autonomous vehicle developed in 2018 with the intention to reduce industrial waste as much as possible.
Hyundai Transys has put various technologies and meanings in its future mobility concept sheet. However, no matter how good a seat is, it might not be able to attract consumers if it is not beautiful. So, Hyundai Transys created a design concept called ‘Seoul to Milan’ for the color, material, and finish of the seat. The concept that unites Seoul and Milan is inspired by the eternity of the two cities. This seat contains the unique colors and patterns of two cities with distinctive identities – Seoul and Milan.
Hyundai Transys has put various technologies and meanings in its future mobility concept sheet. However, no matter how good a seat is, it might not be able to attract consumers if it is not beautiful. So, Hyundai Transys created a design concept called ‘Seoul to Milan’ for the color, material, and finish of the seat. The concept that unites Seoul and Milan is inspired by the eternity of the two cities. This seat contains the unique colors and patterns of two cities with distinctive identities – Seoul and Milan.
The company used ‘Seoul Gray’, which contains the urban colors of Seoul, and ‘Milan Brown’, which contains images of natural marble architecture and tanneries (leather processing companies) of Milan as the main colors for the sheets. And the design depicts pixel graphics that capture the twinkling lights of Seoul at night, and striped graphics that imply the skyline of the spire of Duomo in Milan.
We can see how the company has been considering sustainability from its booth at the exhibition; At the Lineapelle International Leather Fair, Hyundai Transys put its future mobility concept seat in the center of its booth, and displayed its efforts with partners for sustainability in a storyboard around it. Also, a stool made from waste left over from the modeling process was placed in the lounge. These reveal that they have minimized waste in the entire process.
The story of Hyundai Transys’ sustainable materials will continue. Many are wondering what other concepts the company will present, or what innovative eco-friendly materials it will unveil in the future. Hyundai Transys plans to continue to challenge for future mobility and our environment.