A New Midsole Material for Sport Shoes

As a New Midsole Material Launches has Adidas Boost Foam met its match?

Adidas and BASF turned heads with the introduction of the futuristic Boost Foam technology. The unique midsole material has performance advantages and a distinctive look. Boost foam is actually a new formulation of a common plastic, TPU. TPU or Thermoplastic poly-Urethane Boost is “blown” meaning the chemical engineers at Adidas and BASF have figured out a way to introduce air bubbles into the plastic making a new TPU foam.

The challenge of making Boost TPU foam midsoles

The texture, while distinctive, makes all Boost midsoles look alike. This distinctive look is great for marketing launches but designers need the ability to make shoes look different year to year.

Boost foam also has a color issue. The TPU foam cannot be molded in color so the midsoles must be painted. Painting midsoles adds cost to the product and even flexible paint can be scratched off or chipped off the foam surface.

The Boost midsole also requires special steam expansion equipment not found in the standard shoe factory.

A new midsole foam better than Boost?

Today we visited an EVA pressing factory with a new compound in development. This new midsole foam is a mixture of EVA and TPU. This new foam has the resilient, wrinkle-free feeling of Boost foam but it can be made with standard EVA forming machines. The foam maker is hush hush about the exact compound but he tells us the new foam is about 30% TPU and 70% EVA.

This new midsole compound is lighter than standard EVA and can be molded in any color like standard EVA midsole foam. This new EVA TPU foam is a little more expensive than standard EVA but costs much less than Adidas TPU Boost foam.

learn how to make shoes:

Do you want to learn how big brands make shoes?  Now you can!  How Shoes are Made will show you how modern shoes come to life! More than just a tour through a sneaker factory and more than your average shoe making book!  This is the perfect Shoe design a handbook for footwear designers.  From drawing shoe designs to sample development and footwear manufacturing, you will learn how it is all done. Written by veteran shoemaking pros, How Shoes are Made will give you a look inside the REAL world of shoe design, development, and mass production. This book teaches shoe making for beginners and students. 220 pages with over 400 color photos and drawings. 26 chapters explaining shoe design, footwear pattern making, sample development, footwear materials selection, upper stitching, outsole and tooling design, shoe lasts, shoe costing, quality inspections, pattern making and much more!  A must-read for young shoe designers, sneakerheads, or any footwear fanatic! Secure payments Visa, MasterCard & PayPal. Over 3500 copies sold! Read in over 60 countries!
Ready for Download Now! Edición española See Preview Video On YouTube

Print Edition Now Available!  

$39.99 – Purchase Print Edition Checkout Added to cart

Table of Contents:

The Design Process, Shoe Development, Shoe Patterns, Shoe Specifications, Outsole Tooling, Development Process, Pre-Production, Material Preparation, Stitching Operations, Rubber Pressing, EVA Forming, The Assembly Line, The Shoe Last, Footwear Costing, Importing Shoes, Shoe Logo Design, Leather for Shoes, Textiles for Shoes ,Synthetics for Shoes,  Foam for Shoes, Know Your Footbeds, Material Suppliers, Shoe Designers Tools, Jobs in the Shoe Trade ,Quality Control, Starting a Shoe Company, Life at a Shoe Factory, Shoe Making Dictionary

If you want to learn more, check out our new books.

Print Editions and Instant Downloads Available Now!

Shoemaking Books / Go to Shoemaking Tools

Shoe Designers

Start-up your Own Shoe Company