Research and technology centre, SATRA’s, footwear test equipment has increased significantly and sales have now broken all previous records with orders reaching £ 250,000 ($350,000) in one month alone.

SATRA’s newly-designed slip resistance tester, Martindale Plus abrasion machine and safety footwear impact rig are in most demand and equipment has just been sent to companies in France, Italy, Romania, the Far East, Brazil and Colombia.

Stephen Andrew, head of SATRA’s equipment sales team, explained: "We responded quickly to the new safety footwear methods (EN ISO 20344) used to CE mark footwear offered for sale in Europe, and our latest impact tester is proving successful due to its unique design and because it is fully compliant with the latest regulations.

"Our latest slip tester, with improved software, has also been upgraded to conform to the new method (EN 13287)."

The Martindale Plus tester for leather and textile samples which was launched earlier this year at the Asia Pacific Leather Fair (APLF) is also proving successful. It incorporates a new design whereby the abradant moves, not the samples, exactly the opposite format to conventional abraders.

 "Any new standards usually mean that machinery has to be modified to test to them and credit to SATRA’s despatch and development staff and engineers for responding to meet this record demand," adds Stephen.

The technology centre now manufactures and sells more than 150 different types of test machinery to more than 70 countries around the world.