Asphalt-soled footwear developed
Brazil’s Lwart Proasfar Química is currently carrying out studies and tests with a view to creating asphalt soles for footwear.
According to the company, asphalt, which is widely used in the civil construction industry as a waterproof material and is applied as a resin in various other industrial sectors, is believed to offer great potential as a cost effective soling material in the shoe manufacturing industry.
"We are dealing with a highly plasticised material, with excellent adherence, dampproofness and flexibility, which is easily shaped and stretched and, at the same time, hard enough not to crack. And it is because of these features that industry in general is a strong consumer of this material," said Irineu Ribeiro da Costa, commercial manager.
