Teijin LeatherTeijin leather is a synthetic produced by Teijin Cordley. It is recognised as a "high end" offering within the synthetic leather market. Teijin has a chemical structure simliar to that of natural leather but, according to the company, is stronger. The material is also lighter than natural leather. From a shoe designers standpoint the benefits of Teijin are multi-fold. Manufacturers, for example, can order fiber thickness to suit a specific need in a shoe. The company can also very the the coarseness/ fineness of the micro-fibers to match product for varying needs of flexibility versus strength. Teijin comes in three varieties, "Top Grain", "Nubuck" and "suede". Suede isn't used in for cleats, obviously. For Nike, one of the big advantages of sythetic leather, is the ability to produce in just about any shade of color imaginable- which they do with thei soccer cleats, for example.
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