Firefighters at BASF’s chemical complex in Ludwigshafen, Germany are said to be keeping their cool thanks to a new boot produced by Baltes which uses Outlast’s Adaptive Comfort temperature regulating phase change material (PCM).

According to Jürgen Helt, technical officer of BASF Fire Department, It is our target to be able to reach each corner of our plant within five minutes.” And in order to do this BASF fire fighters are required to wear their boots all day long (not just” before an emergency) so as to save time. As a result, the firefighters demand a high level of comfort, which seems to have been met with the introduction of the Baltes boots. 16 months ago I received a prototype of this new development and tested it,” said Mr Helt. It was impressive. The boot is very comfortable and light….and as we wear the boots all day, we no longer feel like we’re standing in an oven”, he added.