Founder of Brazilian footwear group Beira Rio, Roberto Argenta, ran for election as governor of the state of Rio Grande do Sul in October. His bid to hold high office fell short, meaning he can turn his attention once again to business.
Footwear business leader Roberto Argenta had enjoyed an exciting and successful three-and-half decades in the...
A safety footwear brand that pioneered the widespread use of steel-toe boots in the 1940s has been relaunched and is reclaiming its Northamptonshire roots.
The Netherlands’ important shoemaking and leatherworking heritage will be preserved in a spectacularly revamped museum after a turnaround by Waalwijk’s officials.
Unless there are immediate, rapid, and large-scale reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, limiting warming to 1.5°C will be impossible, with catastrophic consequences for people and the planet on which we...
In the same way that Formula 1 racing cars serve as test beds for new automotive materials and technologies, so the sports shoe sector of the footwear industry has been instrumental in formulating new concepts ...
Companies have become familiar with the concept of Industry 4.0, the fourth stage in the evolutionary path that, starting at the dawn of industrialisation, transformed manufacturing into the digital process...
Running and ski mountaineering star Kílian Jornet has launched a new footwear, clothing and accessories brand with Mallorca-based footwear group Camper.
Adidas’ director of footwear innovation, Arnau Sanjuan, tells World Footwear how software program Gravity Sketch is changing his approach to shoe design.
Some of Italy’s 4,000-plus footwear manufacturers are small and, at times, a little fragile, but Milan-based economist Enrica Baccini insists that the Italian shoe industry as a whole is “anti-fragile”.
More than 70 years after its launch, Sievi of Finland remains devoted to helping workers stay safe in difficult conditions. One recent innovation is a patented system that lets wearers gain extra stability on...
With funding from the European Commission’s LIFE programme, footwear group Tecnica has launched an ambitious ski boot recycling project that it believes could help it change its business model.
The CEO of a new brand, and great-grandson of the Timberland founder, tells us how leather and sustainable materials are central to his desire to demonstrate a new way of working.
The world had hoped that the pandemic would have been beaten before the summer of 2021. Gradually the realisation came that we were in a longer game and that we would have to live with it, certainly in the...
Assa Ashuach is a most interesting man. Born in Israel in 1969, he studied for a BA in product design at the Betzalel Academy of Art and Design in Jerusalem. After graduating, he opened a design studio that...
Few storied footwear brands have kept pace with the times as well as the seemingly ever-present Dr Martens, which remains fashionably relevant following wave after wave of popular culture.
Portuguese outsole developer Aloft has worked with technology and research partners in Spain to produce Sphair Air Bubble, an outsole that makes a virtue of unevenness.
Two rival safety footwear suppliers in the Netherlands have teamed up to establish the Circular Footwear Alliance. They continue to compete in the marketplace, but are helping each other collect used safety...
Many parts of the fashion industry, supported by the vegan lobby, continue to claim that non-leather alternatives are more desirable and sustainable than the real thing.
Toe puffs and counters are often taken for granted. This is a mistake as they both perform important functions in the finished shoe. Toe puffs preserve toe shape and prevent that area of the shoe from...
Some people are unfortunate enough to be either born with deformed feet or to acquire them through illness or injury and therefore need special footwear.
LionRock’s interest in Clarks could result in major changes in the way the footwear group functions, not least because of the interest a major figure in brand-building and business expansion in China has taken ...
Durability, an outsole to provide grip on a wide variety of terrain types, a split in the carbon plate and the insight and expertise of ultrarunner Tommy Rivs combine to make a new shoe from Craft a product of ...
A footwear company from Denmark believes that using leather that consumers can trace back to the farms that reared the cattle that supplied the hides strengthens its brand and enhances its sustainability...
When the subject of polyurethane soling comes up, one may automatically think of DESMA. This is because the German manufacturer has been the major supplier of PU moulding machines for 50 years.
Eco-efficiency has been proposed as a key tool in promoting a transformation from unsustainable development to one of sustainable development. It is based on the concept of creating more goods and services...
The pandemic caused by covid-19 burst into our lives unexpectedly, affecting in a remarkable way the activity of different industries, including footwear and its components.
Over the last decade there has been a steady rise in the growth of footwear with flexible woven or knitted uppers, particularly in the athletic and performance field.
The more consumers know about hemp as a fabric, the more they want products made from the sustainable, durable plant. That's why hemp footwear brands are building education into their business models.
Portuguese safety footwear group AMF has provided a breakdown of the work it does to conceive, plan, create and construct a new model. It says that looking at the processes step by step allows it to see all...
A US company has coined a way of turning leather waste into a new material and sees shoes as its main target market. After collaborating for three years, Timberland is the first big brand to use it in a new...
Research body CTC is helping footwear brands and their material suppliers put in place a high level of assurance that in-house laboratories are testing and measuring accurately, boosting confidence all along...