Spanish project will aim to make 24 million pairs per year
Bonding technology developed by Elche-based Simplicity Works will be one of the main points of focus of a new five-year project that the Spanish footwear industry is about to embark on.
The initiative, called the EcoChallenge project, will have access to funding from the European Union’s Next Generation EU recovery plan. The project’s main aim is to win back footwear production from Asia.
It will include a new Factory Lab in Elche that will use Simplicity Works’ bonding technology to produce around 600,000 pairs of shoes per year. The technology works by placing all the separate pieces required to make a shoe into a single mould and applying a polymer injection to bond them all simultaneously.
Another aspect of EcoChallenge will be its use of cuttings and other waste from shoe manufacturing to create energy.
In total, the companies and industry organisations behind the plan have said they hope to be able to make 24 million pairs of EcoChallenge shoes every year and create up to 1,000 new jobs.
