Never heard of it? Neither had I till an old student I met a few years ago introduced to to it. It's a man made leather like fabric made in Italy and used, as I understand, in the high end motor trade by the likes of Ferrari and RR. It's imported into the UK by these folk in Huddersfield.
I was looking for a suitable material for a lining to use in the Rosewood jewellery box currently under construction in the 'shop and I thought, naturally enough that a soft suede leather would be ideal. However, my old student who works for these people mentioned that the acids in natural leather will tarnish silver and for linings of any drawers or boxes etc they always used Alcantara.
That said, I think it's actually more expensive to buy this material than proper leather, but they will sell small quantities either as off-cuts or cut from the roll. It's also available in several thicknesses, 0.6 and 0.8mm being the most common for jewellery boxes. SWIMBO bought me a half metre simply by ringing the firm up and placing an order over the dog n'bone. Beware though, of buying it from Evilbay as there are a lot of fake and 'lookalike' materials around and you may not be purchasing the genuine article - Rob