TailorFit™: The new interior material
An innovative synthetic leather which feels just like nappa leather
TailorFit™ is a new synthetic material that is not only highly durable, but also has a similar tactile feel to nappa leather, a high-quality, genuine leather that is often used for premium car seats. TailorFit™ seats embrace their occupants with lounge-like comfort.
Feature
Tactile sensation is supposedly composed of four factors: rough/smooth feeling (smoothness), dry/wet feeling (moisture), soft/hard feeling (softness), and hot/cool feeling (warmness). Nissan has been researching new materials with a premium tactile feel by identifying the mechanisms behind the way in which humans feel these four factors.
Nappa leather ranks highly in all four of the abovementioned categories and is superior in terms of rough/smooth feeling (smoothness) and dry/wet feeling (moisture) compared to synthetic leather. TailorFit™ is a synthetic leather with a unique surface coating that gives it a high-quality, comfortable tactile sensation that far surpasses that of regular genuine leather. TailorFit™ also has good cushioning, is softer than synthetics, and provides a uniquely tailored fit. Furthermore, while genuine leather seats are prone to wrinkling after prolonged use, TailorFit™ is wrinkle-resistant.
Mechanism
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Enhancing the smooth feeling of surfaces
Research has indicated that surfaces feel smoother when the grains on the surface are of a similar distance to that of a human fingerprint. TailorFit™ controls the pitch between the grains on the material’s surface to provide an enhanced smoothness.
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Topcoat to enhance conditioning
The low coefficient of static friction (sleek) and high coefficient of dynamic friction (matte) are key factors to the sensation of dry/wet feeling (moisture). TailorFit™ adds particles to the PU surface topcoat to regulate these friction coefficients to provide an enhanced moisture.