Design accolade for Uvex safety shoe
Uvex, recently celebrated an important success in a wide-ranging and prestigious design competition. A new soling system it put into a new line of safety shoes was instrumental in helping it win.
German safety footwear brand Uvex was a winner with its Uvex 1 G2 safety shoes at the 2020 iF Design Award, the industrial design competition that Hannover-based iF International Forum Design GmbH runs annually.
This competition invites entries from companies who believe they have come up with innovative and effective designs in categories including products, packaging, communication projects and architecture. Innovation, functionality, aesthetics and responsibility are all part of the evaluation criteria. Winners can use the iF seal of design quality to publicise their success in achieving “outstanding design achievements” and in focusing on “the innovative power of design”. Success at the awards also gives the users of the products that take part the confidence that they can trust these products, the organisers say, pointing out that each one was chosen by “an expert jury”.
Cushioning and energy-return
In Uvex’s case, a lightweight polyurethane material, combining high cushioning and energy-return properties at a level wearers might expect of sports footwear, with the durability needed to create long-lasting, protective work shoes has produced a low-density midsole that gives the Uvex 1 G2 shoes a high level of shock-absorbing and rebound properties, with good stability. This can help prevent tired feet from rolling, preventing injury, and reduce lower-leg fatigue for people on the move all day. The material works in a wide range of temperatures, meaning feet stay cushioned and comfortable, even in sub-zero conditions. It works with all types of shoe manufacturing systems, old and new.Winning formula
Uvex has incorporated the material into an overall soling system to which it has given the proprietary namei-PUREnrj. The company, based in Fürth, in northern Bavaria, has made it clear it believes i-PUREnrj helped it win over the iF Design Award’s “expert jury”. In 2020, the jury had 78 members, design professionals from countries including China, the US, Denmark, Australia, the UK, Spain, the Netherlands, Italy, Switzerland, Japan, Sweden and, of course, Germany. Members of the panel with expertise in footwear included Karen Korellis Reuther, vice-president for creative direction at Reebok. Before joining Reebok in 2018, Ms Korellis Reuther worked as creative director and a
brand psychologist at Boston-based consultancy Cast Collective. During her time there she worked on projects for Puma, Vans and Timberland.
Shock absorption redefined
In its own description of its new soling system, Uvex says it returns “the landing energy over the entire sole unit” back to the wearer, thus “redefining shock absorption and stability”. The shoes have undergone extensive andindependent testing, including some carried out by Lyon-based research institute CTC. These tests have yielded results that show a 100% higher energy absorption than that specified by the EN ISO 20345 standard, 66% energy recovery in the heel, 59% energy recovery in the forefoot, 29% higher shock absorption than standard polyurethane soles after 1,000 kilometres of use, and 21% less “perceived fatigue” than with standard polyurethane soles after a working day.Other protection features of the shoes include meeting the electrostatic discharge specification, and a metal-free safety toe-cap that is wider than in previous styles, allowing for more toe-room and a better fit. It has a tread that Uvex says is particularly suited to industrial floor surfaces, giving a high level of slip-resistance.Range of industries
The safety footwear range at Uvex spans shoes, boots and sandals that conform with protection class S1, S1 P, S2, S3 and S5 (EN ISO 20345). Customers are using these safety shoes in automotive factories, machine construction, chemical plants, service and logistics industries, on construction sites and in outdoor workspaces such as agriculture and forestry. The company also provides tailor-made orthopaedic safety footwear for workers with special health needs. The Uvex Group has 48 subsidiaries in 22 countries, but two-thirds of its 2,700 employees work in Germany and it makes most of its products there.
Uvex’s wide range of safety footwear is in use in factories, construction sites and other work locations throughout the world.
All Credits: Uvex
