Suede-like artificial leathers and a method for manufacturing same

An artificial leather having a suede-like texture, consisting of a shrunk fabric selected from the group consisting of pile woven fabrics, raised woven fabrics, pile knitted fabrics and raised knitted fabrics, said fabric consisting of a substrate having napped piles projecting therefrom and uniformly distributed over the entire surface of the substrate at a high nap density, said piles having a length of 0.5 to 4.0 mm, said piles consisting essentially of fibrillated composite filaments consisting of synthetic polymers having mutually low adhesive affinity to each other, said fibrillated composite filaments having been obtained by filbrillating composite filaments which in transverse cross-section consist of at least three integral layers (A) of one polymer wherein said layers diverge from each other substantially radially in the outward direction and extend to the perimeter of the filament and the spaces between said layers are filled with either segments (B) of another polymer or concave segments (B') of said another polymer the concavities of which are filled with segments (C) of a different polymer, wherein all of the polymers extend to the perimeter of the filament, so that the polymers are separated from each other, said fabric having been shrunk from 10 to 40% of its original area and then having been impregnated with from 3 to 40 percent by weight, based on the weight of said fabric, of a substantially microporous synthetic polymer, the piles having been buffed after impregnation with said polymer to transform same to napped piles consisting of uniformly dispersed separate very fine fibrils of (A) and (B) or (A), (B') and (C) having a nap fibril denier of from 0.05 to 1 denier and a nap fibril length of from 0.2 to 3.0 mm.