Shawmut Corporation reveals eco-friendly automotive interior fabric Neoluxe™

At this week’s 2021 IAA Mobility Conference and Auto Show in Munich, Germany, Shawmut Corporation, a global manufacturer of advanced materials and a leading global provider of automotive interior fabrics, revealed its premium automotive interior fabric, Neoluxe™.

Neoluxe™ is a premium synthetic suede alternative to urethane impregnated nonwoven microfiber materials that are made in the automobile sector using a well-known, well-proven, and environmentally friendly technique. The fabric has the rich look and feel of suede, but with the consistency and trimmability of a knit.

According to Shawmut, Neoluxe has a beautiful aesthetic that may be easily upgraded with custom embossed, perforated, welded, embroidered, and printed techniques. It offers a higher and more consistent quality than other premium synthetic suedes, giving the fabric a more attractive choice for a wide range of car interior component applications. It also has a lower environmental impact than other premium suedes due to meticulous raw material selection and processing technology. Neoluxe can also be made from recycled materials.

Wade Martin, President of Shawmut Corporation’s Automotive Division, said that as consumers want more luxury amenities, their Neoluxe fabric provides manufacturers with a premium, sustainable fabric to elevate any car in their lineup. Moreover, when new trends such as electric and sustainably-focused vehicles gain market share, automakers require interior materials that match these vehicles in terms of sustainability, beauty, and performance, and Neoluxe delivers on all fronts.

Being the world’s largest supplier of warp-knit fabrics for headliner and other automotive interior systems components, Shawmut’s addition of the premium Neoluxe fabric family to its existing portfolio of durable, high-performance solutions furthers its mission to help auto manufacturers continue innovating.

Lightweight warp knit fabrics are common in headliner applications, but Neoluxe’s superior moulding and tuneable elongation properties, compared to other premium suede alternatives on the market, allow it to be used in a wider range of interior components, according to Shawmut.

Shawmut’s Neoluxe fabric can be used on seats, pillars, sun visors, sunshades, doors, and more, in addition to headlining applications. Shawmut has the unique ability to bring its Neoluxe fabric family to a variety of customers with different needs and challenges thanks to its in-house design, engineering, and production capabilities, as well as a manufacturing scale that allows it to supply low volume applications with high volume buying power.

Mollie Engel, Shawmut Corporation’s Vice President of Design & Development, said that Neoluxe is a fantastic fabric to work with since it moulds and trims beautifully and receives secondary processes effectively, allowing them to use the fabric in a variety of parts of a car’s interior. As a designer, he constantly has a vision for how he wants to combine new textiles into different design projects, but the ideal doesn’t always match up with the fabric’s realities. That is not the case with Neoluxe, and working with this fabric adds to the excitement of the design process because of its limitless capabilities.”

At the IAA Summit Vendor Fair, Shawmut collaborated with Zettl Group, a premium automotive and interior solutions provider, to showcase car seating completed in the Neoluxe fabric line in the Zettl Group stand in Hall A2, Stand B22.