South America’s safety shoe breakthrough
Work and safety footwear manufacturer Maincal has become the first South American company in the sector to incorporate BASF’s Infinergy expanded TPU material into the midsole of its products.
Argentinean footwear manufacturer Maincal has partnered with BASF to launch South America’s first safety shoes made with the chemical group’s Infinergy expanded thermoplastic polyurethane (E-TPU). Since introducing this product in 2013, BASF has made steady inroads into the global market with applications in bike tyres, tennis racquets, sports flooring, treadmills and, of course, footwear. Qualities such as its low bulk weight, ability to absorb little moisture, high tensile strength and good abrasion resistance have made Infinergy attractive to a wide range of product manufacturers and brands.
Within footwear, the expanded TPU product is in demand in dress shoes because it makes them light and comfortable, in sports shoes to provide some spring in the midsole, and in work and safety shoes to give people who spend much of their working day on their feet what BASF calls “athlete-approved energy return”. The principle is familiar: increase foot comfort and you reduce physical and mental fatigue, helping people to do their jobs effectively all the way to the end of their shifts. Infinergy in the midsole will also enhance the durability of work shoes, BASF claims.
Value of knowledge
One of the most recent safety footwear manufacturers to add its name to users of the E-TPU is Maincal. Based just outside Rosario in central Argentina, Maincal has been making work shoes since 1961, offering shoes and boots under two brand names, Funcional and Voran, through 250 retail partners. It says the knowledge it has built up over almost 60 years and the steady improvements it has been able to make over that time are feeding into its shoes today, driving the quality of its products upwards. Its 9,200 square-metre production site includes an in-house laboratory and among its 350 employees are in-house technicians who test materials and try out new ideas. It was here that the company looked in detail at how it could incorporate Infinergy into its products and decided to launch SportsSafe Energy, a new collection under its Voran brand.These low-cut shoes “incorporate the most successful technology from running footwear” to offer workers greater shock-absorption and flexibility. Maincal describes having a midsole with Infinergy at its core as “revolutionary”. It justifies this description by saying that the SportsSafe Energy shoes return 55% of the energy the wearer expends in every step.
Blood-flow
It says the technology also improves blood-flow, making wearers’ power of recovery better. “You will feel less tired at the end of your working day,” the company promises prospective customers, “just as some athletes feel less fatigue towards the end of a competition.” In addition, it highlights the lightweight properties of the shoe: it uses aluminium to reinforce the toe of the shoe, providing a weight-saving that Maincal puts at 40% compared to more traditional toe-cap materials. Another element, Reflemax, provides flashes of high visibility on the shoe, supporting safer working in environments with low levels of lighting.
“We have made these shoes to look and feel like sports footwear,” the manufacturer says, “so that they will help wearers meet all their goals throughout the day.” It adds that SportSafe Energy will suit particularly well workers in automotive, food, logistics and other jobs that require high levels of comfort over long periods of time. The design will even allow people to wear the same pair of shoes outside the workplace.
Polyurethane from BASF’s Elastopan range is also in use in the soling material Maincal has used. This material, which it calls Ultragrip, protects wearers against slips, even on “the most demanding surfaces”. Maincal’s commercial director, Pablo López Calí, says that working with BASF, especially in becoming the first safety footwear brand in South America to incorporate Infinergy, will help the Rosario-based company expand internationally and boost growth. For his part, Juan Martín Nasi, a performance materials specialist at BASF South America, says that combining the new technology with Maincal’s designs was a challenge, but one the companies were “proud to have met together”.
Shoes from the Voran SportsSafe Energy range, the first safety shoes in South America to incorporate Infinergy from BASF.
Credit: Maincal
