Meeting the challenges of fashion, safety and comfort in footwear

Historically, safety footwear was characterised by heavy boots made from thick leather uppers with solid stitching, steel toe-caps and thick, dense soles. There was no such thing as ‘style’ and the only choices you had were black or brown colour and laces or elasticised sides. Fashion was simply covered by your choice of socks and comfort only came into the picture when you took your boots off. But we’ve come a long way since then.

‘Safety first’ has always been the lead motto for safety attire, but in recent years, fashion and comfort have been gaining in importance, to the point where safety-gear buyers can be so overwhelmed by choice that there’s a risk of safety ‘taking a back seat’.

While choice is important, the overriding principle - never compromise on protection - remains. But that doesn’t mean you can’t have fashion, safety and comfort together in safety footwear. To choose that optimum solution, you need to understand how all three facets are combined and what ‘secrets’ the manufacturer has deployed to get the mix right, while ensuring the footwear is still safe and fit for purpose.

What about the safety footwear you’re currently wearing? Chances are, they’re not like the heavy, stiff workboots from the ‘old days’. They’re probably the latest style and colour combination. They’re also probably comfortable, otherwise you wouldn’t be wearing them, right?

Meeting the challenge

The footwear industry has been challenged for several years to optimally satisfy all of these needs without compromising safety. When you consider the huge variety of safety footwear that’s available in the Australian marketplace at present, it’s worth taking a close look at how a manufacturer goes about delivering comfortable, fashionable and, above all, safe footwear that’s suited to workers’ specific needs. You’ll find that some manufacturers optimise these three attributes better than others.

I spoke with Owen Begg, National Sales Manager of Bata Shoe Company of Australia, and Philip Hughes, CEO of Oliver Footwear, recently to explore their ‘secrets’ in getting the ‘fashion, safety, comfort’ mix right.

“It’s been a real challenge for shoemakers to produce footwear with the right combination of aesthetics, comfort, safety, kinetic performance and durability,” says Begg. “Ordinarily, these objectives oppose each other. Take for example sports shoes. Kinetic performance - how well they respond and support feet when they’re in motion - is paramount. They’re shaped to optimise a running foot and made as lightweight as possible, often constructed from soft soles and mesh uppers. Durability and safety are priorities, because they’re not so important to wearers. Sure they’re comfortable and lightweight, but they wouldn’t last long on a construction site; and they wouldn’t stop your foot being injured if you dropped a hammer on them.

“At the other end of the scale, boots for smelter workers are thick, solid and quite heavy to take the harsh conditions of that industry. But how long would it take you to run a 100 m in them?

“I’ve used extreme examples to highlight the fact that shoes are designed for specific applications - some general, some very specific.

“Understandably, people have different tastes in footwear, so footwear - for both work and leisure - is highly driven by fashion. And that has extended into safety footwear over the past 10 years.

“Workers want choices in styles and colours, while still protecting their feet. It’s not uncommon for, say, warehouse workers to go out on the town in their safety shoes. They may change their hi-vis shirts for something more fashionable, but if the footwear is ‘street smart’ and comfortable, they’re happy to keep wearing them well into the night.

Begg points out that successfully getting safety shoes to that level - safe by day and stylish by night - requires technology.

A number of manufacturers had moved to using cellular polyurethane (PU) for soles to reduce the boots’ weight. It’s much lighter than PVC, which was previously used in workboot soles. PU has excellent flexibility and decreases fatigue, an important factor for workers on their feet all day long.

Begg comments that Bata is soon to launch PU gumboots as an alternative to traditional PVC gumboots: “We’re responding to user demand, particularly from food processing industries where workers have to wear gumboots all day, every day. While PVC gumboots are perfectly adequate for these applications, we can assist in reducing worker fatigue, simply by reducing the weight of the gumboots using PU. It still offers all the protective properties of PVC, so there’s no compromise in safety. If anything, it helps improve safety, especially late in the workers’ shift, because they’re less fatigued.”

Further development of the sole with new technologies has also improved safety and comfort. Dual-density PU soles, consisting of PU midsoles and outsoles, is commonplace in quality safety footwear. The midsole provides shock absorption, while the long-wearing outsole provides slip resistance, insulation against cold and heat, and antistatic qualities. The PU sole is typically directly injected to the boot’s upper material, ensuring a strong and durable construction.

Begg adds: “Our footwear designers draw on scientific research into safety, comfort and health, carried out with major scientific institutes. We analyse wearer kinetics and workplace conditions - surfaces, temperature, humidity - to ensure our safety footwear can satisfy various requirements. Areas we’ve focused on include climate management, weight reduction, slip resistancy and special fibres for specific applications.

“Recently we introduced the Bickz safety footwear collection. Using the latest developments in composite materials for the protective toe-cap and penetration-resistant midsole, we’ve reduced the weight while maintaining high levels of all-round foot protection. In airports and other workplaces today, many workers pass through security screening, so metal-free safety footwear complements this process.

“Bickz also features an external torsion-stabiliser to replace the shank, which was normally concealed within the shoe. Providing enhanced stability beyond the traditional shank, the torsion-stabiliser is made from latest materials (TPU) and has high aesthetic appeal - one of the principal aims when developing the Bickz collection.

“In addition to using lightweight materials to minimise foot fatigue, Bata also addresses the quality and shape of the sole. One of our latest inventions is the ‘Easy Rolling’ system, where pre-shaping the front of the shoes optimally supports the foot’s natural motion. The overall effect is to save energy and increase comfort.”

Ballarat-based manufacturer Oliver Footwear likewise combines safety, comfort and style into its safety and industrial footwear, also deploying cutting-edge technologies to get the mix right.

According to Oliver’s CEO, Phillip Hughes, the company is the first Australian footwear manufacturer to introduce Poron XRD technology to deliver high levels of impact protection in its newly released AT 55 lace-up and elastic-sided workboots.

Commenting on the significance of incorporating this technology, Hughes says: “By utilising this revolutionary material in the boots, Oliver has created superior metatarsal protection [metatarsal bones are a group of five long bones in the foot]. Traditional safety footwear is inflexible, heavy and bulky, and prohibits air circulation within the boot.

“Poron XRD Extreme Impact Protection is a new, lightweight material that offers breathability with maximum absorption and dissipation of energy on impact. It gains its softness and flexibility when at rest while above the ‘glass-transition temperature’ (Tg) of the urethane molecules. When stressed at a high rate or impacted quickly, the Tg of the material reaches a point when the molecules momentarily ‘freeze’ - like water into ice. Thus the material firms to form a comfortable protective shell that absorbs and instantly dissipates up to 90% of the impact energy again and again.”

After my discussion with Hughes, I conducted some research into Poron XRD and found it to be a remarkable material. According to information from its developer, Rogers Corporation, it is a ‘repeated-impact-absorption’ material that is more commonly marketed as ‘high-tech wearable protection’ for professional athletic and sports apparel and equipment and outdoor active wear.

The material can be supplied as thin as 1 mm, so when applied into garments, it can be moulded to contour against the body, allowing the wearer ease of movement, yet instantly dissipating force upon impact. It also maintains its impact-absorbing performance well beyond the projected life of the garment it is fabricated into. Poron XRD is also treated with a microbial protection that helps prevent the growth of bacteria, colours and stains, making it highly suitable for footwear.

So applying such technology into footwear that’s constantly subjected to varying degrees of impact over the entire life of the boot is certain to provide high degrees of long-term comfort to wearers.

Hughes adds to his description of Oliver’s latest high-tech boots: “To maintain strength and safety, we use Kevlar stitching on the water-resistant leather uppers, dual-density/PU soling technology and shock-absorbing low-density PU midsoles.

“Below all that, high-density rubber outsoles protect the wearer from the environment beneath. Designed for high grip and durability, the outsoles are heat resistant to 300°C; chemical resistant to mineral oils, acids, alkalis, animal fats and oils; cut and abrasion resistant; and the EH protection reduces the danger of accidental contact with live electrical circuits.”

So much technology is being used in safety footwear these days to enable wearers to get the right mix of fashion, safety and comfort in their boots. Your job, of course, is to do your homework first to ensure you get the right mix in the boots you’re considering buying.