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MANUFACTURING & MATERIALS INNOVATION
M
illions of shoes are made
with shock absorbency
provided by laminating sheet
urethane foam to the upper
surface of the insole. Many others,
however, opt for a moulded foam layer
contoured to offer one or more of a
number of perceived extra advantages.
These vary depending on the intended
final use of the shoe and can be
specifically targeted at particular
sections of the footwear market.
German
company
Brötje
Schaumtechnik is one of the leading
SBR-Latex foam pad producers in the
world. Founded in 1960 and based in the
north-west of Germany, it employs 50
people yet has the capacity to produce 30
million pairs per year due to its unique
fully automatic production plant. In
addition, all products are certified to DIN
EN ISO 14001: 2005 standard. Its
speciality is producing separate
mouldings that can be bonded
individually or together onto an insole in
order to meet a range of specific activities
and orthopaedic conditions. The total
flexibility of the system means that a pair
of insoles can have a different
combination of mouldings on each foot.
An existing library contains around
15,000 different moulds and, if a
customer’s requirements cannot be fully
met from this, a new mould can be
quickly made. This is facilitated by the
company producing all its own moulds,
from concept through to final production
tooling. A sample mould based on the
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WORLD FOOTWEAR | MAY/JUNE 2012
PHOTO CREDIT: BRÖTJE
Specialist inserts
Brötje produces its moulds in-house to the highest standards.
PHOTO CREDIT: BRÖTJE