Artificial leather is a fabric or finish intended to substitute forleatherin fields such as upholstery, clothing, footwear and fabrics and other uses where a leather-like finish is required but the actual material is cost-prohibitive, unsuitable, or unusable for ethical reasons.
Production of synthetic, artificial/faux "leathers" has recently evolved so that a shell coating layer goes on top of a synthetic polymer blend, so the definition of "synthetic", "artificial/faux" leather methods of production no longer necessarily requires composite leather blends of [coated] raw-tanned cowhide grains and/or its fibrous layers.