CTCR promises footwear breakthrough from milk waste
02/12/2015
Officials at the centre said on launching the project that they expect enhanced skin health as the main benefit to wearers of the shoes thanks to the rejuvenating and moisturising properties of lactic acid. If the idea works, people wearing the shoes should find their skin becomes softer and more supple.
Technologists at CTCR plan to develop a new hybrid fermentation process to extract lactic acid with particularly high levels of purity and performance from whey. After microencapsulation, the idea is to put the lactic acid into the soles and linings of shoes. “Whey has never been used in the footwear industry before,” the centre said. “It’s a waste material and we believe this represents an important innovation in the footwear sector, one that has an important environmental benefit.”
CTCR, situated in the footwear manufacturing hub of Arnedo, is currently engaged with shoe companies in 29 different innovation projects and has been involved in more than 150 projects in all since its inception in 2007. The partners it will work on for Lactishoe are safety footwear manufacturer Garmaryga and insole specialist Arneplant, both local companies.
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