The world of luxury automobiles is peppered with brand-name braggadocio, whereby the "best" products come with names worth dropping. Bang & Olufsen sound systems. Venetian leather. Brembo brakes.
That brings us to Alcantara, a suedelike material used in fashion and furniture—as well as automobiles. If you've ever spent time in a premium vehicle, presumably from an import manufacture, you probably have been surrounded by some amount of Alcantara, whether on the steering wheel, controls, or the headliner.
At the recent Global Citizen 2015 Earth Day celebration in Washington, D.C., Alcantara was a different type of headliner, as a title sponsor of the green-focused event. We had the chance to speak with Alcantara CEO Andrea Boragno about his plans for making Alcantara into a household name, and what it means for his company to say it is carbon-neutral:
Auto World News: What is Alcantara doing at Earth Day?
Andrea Boragno: We have a very strong commitment to sustainability. We are the first Italian company to become carbon-neutral-this was back in 2009. We publish a sustainability report, and we do many things in the field of sustainability. [In short], we want to make sustainability consistent with long-term goals of growth and profitability for the company. We don't see sustainability as something conflicting with economic and financial values of the company. That's why we undertook this direction, [starting in] 2009. We are very serious. We certify everything. ... When we talk about green activity, there is a lot of brainwashing around. We want to be transparent and bring the stakeholders true, clear, and transparent information about who we are.
Who is Alcantara's biggest competitor?
Natural leather. We have a number of imitators, but the number one competitor is natural leather.
What have you done about imitators?
We don't look at them. We just go on our way. We do a number of things that the others cannot do. First of all, the product is superior, technologically. Our product is particularly beautiful. We believe that the top of the market wants not only quality; top quality is not enough for excellence. The top of the market wants emotions: emotional beauty, emotional sense of reality. We provide it. That's why we work a lot with designers. Normally, the designers of large, global companies love us, because of our capability of presenting materials in different ways and combinations. Then, we are sustainable. We stress this very much [regarding the tagline] "Made in Italy." We want to stay made in Italy. All this activity that we have with creative people and designers-up to the point that we work with museums-is something very useful to us. Creative people love our material, which becomes a means by which they express their creativity. On the other side, we get a lot of input from them that we use.
We see a lot of Alcantara in cars. What do you drive?
Maserati Ghibli. I like it very much-for special occasions. Otherwise, I use an [Audi] A7. The Maserati is made in Italy, very elegant and sporty.
We see Alcantara in the details of cars, but not in entire seats, etc. Do you see a greater play for Alcantara in cars going forward?
I see a growing use of Alcantara. Last year, in America [our sales] grew by 82 percent. Here in the U.S., we have a lot of imports of top cars: BMW, Audi, Lamborghini, Maserati, Ferrari, and so on. We are also a good partner of rising star Tesla. We are proud and pleased about this.
And Lincoln.
Yes, Lincoln. And Chrysler and Ford, Nissan-the Maxima-and Honda [for the] NSX. We are fast growing. We will continue to grow, and not just in the U.S. We are growing in China, [at] 60 percent last year, and in our traditional market, which is Europe.
Do you think there's room for a green focus for Alcantara? We don't see any Alcantara in the Toyota Mirai fuel cell car [on the adjacent stand].
We have started to work with Toyota. In automotive, you know, it takes time. Once a decision is made, it takes 18 months-sometimes 24-before you see the material inside the car. We'll get there.
Why is it so important to produce Alcantara in Italy?
Because "Made in Italy" is a value that is very much recognized and appreciated, especially in China and Japan. Actually, our product is a combination of something that is very technologically advanced in our production process. We intermingle this with craftsmanship.
Do you see Alcantara moving into other categories or segments in the future?
I see Alcantara growing almost everywhere. It can [fit] an extremely contemporary lifestyle, because we are functional and technological [and] we are also emotional. This combination is very rare. No one [else] can provide this. The third pillar? We are sustainable. We can provide the customer, [in any] business sector, something exclusive. Obviously, we are a premium product, so we cannot go into the mass market. We can easily grow the upper side of the market.
When you talk about sustainability, you mean investments in the environment as an offset. Was there anything done to your manufacturing process itself to make the product more sustainable?
Yes: We [have eliminated] all the substances that could be dangerous. We have a history of strong, significant, continuous reduction of carbon dioxide that, in many cases, means reduction of consumption of steam and electric energy. Together with this, we recycle, recover waste, and eliminate substances that could be dangerous for human health. Carbon neutrality is a very important goal in the totality of the activity that we are carrying out.
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