Huntsman and partners to address customised sports shoes at ISPO
01/02/2019
Fitstation is powered by technology company HP and uses Huntsman’s certified PU midsole technology for multi-segment injection (MSI), RSscan’s pressure plate technology for scanning, and a DESMA MSI moulding machine. It launched at the end of 2017, promising “a complete solution for the automated manufacture of tailor-made shoes”.
At ISPO 2019, footwear material experts from Huntsman will be on hand to discuss the polyurethane materials it has developed to support the production of personalised footwear on multi-segment injection moulding machines, and about the benefits polyurethane chemistry can bring to the manufacture of 3D printed parts.
In the build-up to the event, Huntsman said that demand is growing for tailor-made shoes, which are designed to fit a person’s feet perfectly. It said this trend is gathering “real momentum” across the footwear industry, but particularly in the sports shoe sector, where better, more comfortable footwear can help improve the performance of athletes and keep fit enthusiasts.
The company’s global development manager for polyurethane elastomers, Hugo Verbeke, commented: “With long-standing relationships in place throughout the sports shoe value chain, our material experts have kept pace with the speed of change, working closely with machinery manufacturers to develop materials that can be easily processed on new pieces of equipment. This includes technologies that can be used for the manufacture of customised shoes and systems that can be scaled for mass-market manufacture.”
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