Dow Elastomers introduces award-winning technology at Shoe and Leather Vietnam 2015

Muthu Subramanian, development specialist at Dow Chemical Pacific (Singapore) Pte Ltd introduces INFUSE technology
used in athletic shoes to exhibition visitors

Launching today at the Shoe and Leather Vietnam (SLV) 2015 show in Ho Chi Minh City, Dow Elastomer’s award-winning INFUSE™ Olefin Block Copolymers (OBCs) sets a new standard for specialty materials in the midsoles of athletic shoes.

Midsoles dictate the life of a shoe, including its durability, and the quality of the athlete’s ride.

It offers protection to feet, absorbing shock from jumping and running, lessening the impact and stress on the athlete’s body. It is the centre of stability for the athlete, keeping the foot from rolling inward or outward, which can lead to pain and injury.

The INFUSE™ OBCs improves rebound, compression set, comfort and dimensional stability while providing the most lightweight material option available.

Athletic shoe products using INFUSE technology of Dow Elastomers get exposed to exhibition visitors

“For decades, the market for athletic shoe midsoles – the part of the shoe that provides cushioning and shock absorption – was dominated by ethylene vinyl acetate. But today, Dow Elastomers is helping set the pace in the high-growth performance footwear industry with its new INFUSE™ Olefin Block Copolymers for use in athletic shoe midsoles. INFUSE™ improves resilience, softness and durability, while also reducing the overall weight of the shoe - all of which are critical performance features,” said Andrew Yen, business leader, Footwear and Consumer Markets for Dow Elastomers in Asia Pacific.

INFUSE™ contains innovations that increase overall performance compared to EVA or traditional technology. The technology can also drop into existing foam processes with minor adjustments by the manufacturer, eliminating the need to retool or alter the production process.

Yen added, “As a result, the entire footwear value chain, is taking notice of the broad-based performance advantages enabled by INFUSE™ and several top global brand owners are launching or currently developing new shoe models with INFUSE™-based midsoles.”

Vietnam is one of the leading footwear manufactures and the country’s footwear exports have increased 21.9 per cent year-on-year, reaching $2.85 billion, according to the General Statistics Office of Vietnam (GSO).

Exports of footwear products play a key role in the Vietnamese economy, which achieved the third largest export turnover following electronic, and garment and textile sectors.

Athletic shoes are forecast to see particularly strong local market growth over the coming years - driven by a young population, urbanisation and rising disposables incomes in the region.

Dow Elastomers intends to make its next-generation specialty elastomers available to local manufacturers’ who are keen on catering to this trend.

Dow Elastomers, a business unit of The Dow Chemical Company, is the world’s leading producer of polyolefin elastomers, with the industry’s broadest product portfolio, and the largest global producer of metallocene EPDM, with more than 40 years of experience in a variety of applications and market segments including transportation, packaging, building and construction, infrastructure and consumer goods, among others.

Dow Elastomers is the only producer with world-scale trains on three continents, possessing unparalleled manufacturing, application development and market research capabilities around the world.