These Boots Are Made From Plastic
Canadian Plastics
Let's be honest: most of us probably don't think too much about the eyelets on our shoes -- which, in case you're wondering, are the smooth circular pieces that laces are thread through.
Let’s be honest: most of us probably don’t think too much about the eyelets on our shoes — which, in case you’re wondering, are the smooth circular pieces that laces are thread through.
But for some — shoe manufacturers, for example — eyelets are important… and so is DuPont’s Hytrel thermoplastic polyester elastomer, which has been selected as a replacement for metal in the eyelets of safety boots made by footwear manufacturer Yakupoglu A.S. of Ankara, Turkey.
Yakupoglu choose Hytrel due to its flexibility, even at low temperatures, and its suitability for stitching to the leather “upper” (the part of the shoe above the sole). The company also uses DuPont’s Zytel nylon for the shoe’s midsole support due to its high flexural modulus, helping to stiffen the polyurethane sole and provide more protection and comfort for the wearer.
Rows of four eyelets, measuring approximately eight centimetres in length and two centimetres high, are molded in-house by Yakupoglu before being stitched to the leather upper by industrial sewing machines. For the midsole support, meanwhile, a 30 per cent glass-reinforced grade of Zytel nylon is used, running under the arch of the foot above the polyurethane sole.
The final product is a non-metal construction throughout.
E.I. DuPont Company (Mississauga, Ont.);
905-821-5193
