Alcantara and Porsche Focus on "Green" During Milan Design Week

MILAN, April 17, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Alcantara's "Future Landscape" exhibit at Superstudio Piu during Milan Design Week (April 16-21) offers a current and future "green" interpretation of Alcantara material.

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Well-known for the aesthetic, sensory and functional features of its materials, Alcantara also is dedicated to improving the environment as shown by its certification as "Carbon Neutral" and the many renewable-energy projects the company has participated in over the years.

A fuel-efficient Porsche Cayenne S Hybrid equipped with a unique Alcantara-and-leather interior also will be displayed in the Superstudio Piu courtyard throughout the week.  

The Porsche Cayenne's Alcantara interior, shown for the first time during the design week's city-wide 2012 Fuorisalone tour of studios, features an Alcantara-equipped interior designed by Giulio Cappellini, the company's art director. The vehicle's "warm" pale-grey cockpit uses a combination of smooth and micro-perforated materials highlighted with a unique decorative square at the center of its seats.

The design is intended to underline the sporty, high-quality features for which the Alcantara and Porsche brands are both known and demonstrates a shared commitment by Alcantara and Porsche to improve the environment and reduce vehicle emissions.

Developed as part of the "Porsche Intelligent Performance" project, the Porsche Cayenne S Hybrid offers power and performance with improved fuel economy, greater efficiency and lower CO2 emissions thanks to advanced hybrid technology and materials with optimized weight. In the automotive interiors, Alcantara is much lighter than leather. It also is a luxury material of choice in the fashion, interior design and boating industries.

ABOUT ALCANTARA

Alcantara was founded in 1972 and represents a prime example of Italian-produced quality. The company's head offices are in Milan with a research center and production facilities  in Nera Montoro, Umbria.

Alcantara® is an innovative cover material, the result of unique proprietary technology and the choice of leading companies in a wide array of applications.

It offers an extraordinary combination of sensory, aesthetic and functional qualities, and an ethical and social awareness that characterises contemporary lifestyles: the lifestyles of those that want to fully enjoy the products they use on a daily basis in complete respect for the environment.

Alcantara® is a registered trademark of Alcantara.

Alcantara has attained "Carbon Neutral" certification, reducing in just a single year the carbon dioxide emissions derived from its entire production process of the material by 49 percent with the residues offset through the financing of international renewable-energy projects.

In 2009, the company also published its Corporate Sustainability Report documenting Alcantara's activities in this area.

Note to Editors:  More information about Alcantara S.p.A. is available on the Internet at www.alcantara.com.  Photos are available on request.

SOURCE Alcantara S.p.A.