The stench of sweaty trainers will soon be a thing of the past after experts in Germany found a revolutionary way to infuse leather with an infinite number of long-lasting fragrances.
Chemists at Bayer AG have developed a technique that will allow them to infuse pleasant smells – such as strawberries, lemons and flowers - into a wide range of leather products including shoes and jackets.
Writing in top trade publication World Leather, Dr Martin Kleban from Bayer AG said the process involves applying tiny perfume-filled polyurethane microcapsules to the leather.
"The advantage over direct perfuming is that the fragrance is only released when the leather is subjected to mechanical strain," he explained.
"If a treated leather article is subjected to pressure or moved - for example, if somebody sits down on a treated armchair or walks in treated shoes - some of the microcapsules in the leather rupture and release their fragrance."
