Cuir apprêté et procédé de fabrication de ce cuir

A thermoplastic coating resistant to wet-rubbing and substantially free of dragginess, on leather, comprises a crystalline copolymer of monoethylenically unsaturated monomers, examples of which are given, the copolymer containing a total of not less than 90% by weight of (i) recurring chlorinated units of the formula -CH2.C.Cl2-, and (ii) recurring ester units of the formula where R represents a C1 to C4 alkyl group, said chlorinated units and ester units being present in amounts of 55-80% and 20-45% respectively, based on the combined weight of chlorinated and ester units in the copolymer. The copolymer may have a molecular weight in the range from 100,000 to several million and has been prepared by the emulsion copolymerization of a monomer mixture comprising or consisting of vinylidene chloride and one or more C1 to C4 alkyl acrylates, examples of which are given. The leather may carry a multilayer thermoplastic coating at least two layers of which contain a crystalline copolymer as defined above; at least one of the layers containing the crystalline copolymer may also contain a pigment, examples of which are given, which may be present in an amount from 5 to 150 parts by weight per 100 parts of copolymer. The coated leather may be produced by providing on the leather a first dried coating from an aqueous dispersion containing the crystalline copolymer, the dried coating containing crystallite formations but substantially no spherulite formations, and providing on the first dried coating a second dried coating from an aqueous dispersion containing the crystalline copolymer, the second coating likewise containing crystallite formations but substantially no spherulite formations. The coating may be provided by applying an aqueous dispersion containing 1-30% by weight of the crystalline copolymer, drying the thus-coated leather at 50-110 DEG C. for 10 seconds to 10 minutes, and repeating these operations to produce a second dried coating. The coated leather may be embossed or smooth-plated at a temperature of 65-116 DEG C. before application of the second coating.