Shoes on song
Technical staff and stage-crew stayed safe at Rome’s 2022 First of May Concert thanks to a successful shoe duet between Diadora and Vibram.
Since 1990, Rome’s celebrations for the International Workers’ Day holiday on May 1 have culminated in a spectacular, free concert in the square surrounding the Lateran Basilica, jointly organised by three of Italy’s trade union organisations.
People travel from all regions of the country and beyond to see popular singers and bands, which over the years have included Vasco Rossi, Luciano Ligabue, Biagio Antonacci and Sfera Ebbasta from the host nation, and international stars ranging from Sting and Noel Gallagher to B.B. King and Lou Reed.
The crowd returns
The organisers claim crowds of up to a million people have congregated for past editions of the event, but like most other social gatherings, covid-19 put paid to live audiences at the First of May Concerts of 2020 and 2021. These took place instead in theatre and auditorium settings, with the audience following on television, radio and live streaming. For 2022, however, the concert returned to the square and the live audience was back, with ‘Working For Peace’ as this year’s theme. Media estimates put the returning crowd at 300,000.
With more than 40 acts making up the bill, each with their own sound, lighting and costume requirements, the stages and back-stage areas were also very busy, making the concert a challenging work space for technicians and production crews, who had to set up the concert area, make sure everything was in place to let the show progress as planned, and then dismantle the rigs and stages safely and quickly to allow this busy part of Rome to return to normal the following day.
Work footwear foundations
This year, to help the workers carry out their tasks in safety and comfort, the organisers kitted them out in Fly Litebase Matryx low safety shoes, the result of a joint project between workwear brand Diadora Utility and soling technology developer Vibram.
It is true that Diadora Utility, which has operated as a brand in its own right since 1998, has its foundations in the Diadora sports brand. Diadora Utility’s specialism is in providing professionals with “technologically advanced safety shoes and work clothing”. But it is equally true that Diadora, which has been part of the Geox group since 2009, owes its own foundations to work footwear.
Diadora first saw the light of day in Caerano di San Marco, close to Montebelluna, a traditional footwear hub that is now most famous for being the point of origin of 60% of global supply of ski boots; it is only 50 kilometres or so from the Dolomites. In the late 1940s, however, the local footwear artisans were great specialists in work boots as well as hiking footwear. It took until the 1960s for Diadora, after acquiring “a few significant patents” in the US, to begin its focus on running shoes, tennis shoes, cycling footwear and rugby and football boots instead.
Light and flexible
Each Fly Litebase Matryx shoes weighs just over 300 grammes, a weight that Diadora Utility describes as “previously unthinkable”. In addition to lightness, the properties the brand highlights are flexibility, breathability, good cushioning for comfort and a non-marking sole. Much of the weight reduction it has been able to achieve is the result of its use in these shoes of Litebase, a soling option from Vibram that reduces thickness while maintaining performance in terms of grip, stability and durability. The thickness of the rubber sole is 50% less than that of earlier soles, giving a weight reduction of up to 30%.
Matryx is also in the shoe’s name because Matryx is the technical fabric that the upper is made from. French materials science developer Chamatex launched Matryx in 2016. It makes the material from aramid fibre and polyamide. This shoe uses version 2.0 of the fabric, designed in partnership with Diadora to provide high levels of abrasion resistance, lateral support and flexibility.
This shoe also has an anti-perforation insole made from high-density recycled polyethylene, offering high levels of resistance, but without any metallic content and weighing around 45% less than a traditional insole. The insole, the K Sole Eco, has the added benefit of covering the entire underfoot area, ensuring protection for the whole foot. A carbon-fibre toe-piece gives protection to that part of the foot, too, while an abrasion-resistant TPU toe-cover adds to the shoe’s durability.
As the workers at the 2022 First of May Concert in Rome must have found, the overall effect is of materials and ideas that are in harmony with one another; the Fly Litebase Matryx is a shoe that appears to be on song.
A worker wearing Fly Litebase Matryx shoes prepares some of the material required to turn Saint John Lateran Square in Rome into a major concert venue on May 1.
Credit: Vibram/Diadora Utility
