Setting The Pace

Gone are the days when wool or combed cotton were the choice for footwear liners and leather the standards for uppers. The latest breed of footwear fabrics sport natural and futuristic textures and fibers, with treatments like night-glow striations, textured heavy denier nylon, stretch, waterproof/ breathable membranes, moisture management systems, anti-microbial properties and the softest and most durable of hands.
Power Play
Malden Mills produces some of the most innovative fabrics on the market, and the Power Dry for Fall 1999, which is still being tested by manufacturers, looks and performs like a hit. For performance, "it passes moisture to the other side of the foam and has high breathability," says Jon Silver, product development manager.
Power Dry Cross Dye by Malden Mills
Footwear Application: Liner
Properties:
Lightweight
Moisture managing
Anti-microbial
Two-yarn construction
Durable/breathable
Great surface texture
Weighing In
A staple in the footwear and thermal industries, 3M's Thinsulate now comes in a variety of weights to offer every shoe the perfect comfort. "It's the most well recognized insulation for boots on the market," says David Peterson, sales manager at ITASCA footwear.
Thinsulate by 3M
Footwear Application: Thermal liner
Properties:
High thermal performance
Different weights
Durable
Absorbs less than 1% of its weight in water
Shooting Blanks
Blank Textiles has just launched a new nylon footwear fabric in the market, a soft matte Cordura Plus Naturelle. Available in a variety of colors, Blank is presently showing the fabric to hunting footwear accounts. According to a Blank representative, the fabric is "finished with Ultra Soft, a urethane coating with a teflon finish for stain and water resistance."
Cordura Plus Naturelle by Blank Textiles
Footwear Application: Uppers
Properties:
100% dull Cordura
Soft hand
Matte finish
Water resistant
Stain resistant
Very durable
Lap Of Luxury
The 20-year old Weymouth, MA-based footwear fabric company uses a 100 Hydrofil moisture absorbing nylon for "the only fleece engineered expressly for the footwear industry," according to Faytex rep Jim Tufts.
Dri-Lex Pile by Faytex
Footwear Application: Liners
Properties:
Moisture managing
Non-pilling
Completely breathable
Quick drying
Resists odors and mildew
Keeping Kool
W.L. Gore's Durakool is a proprietary liner that is currently sold commercially. "Durakool has a cool look, is very abrasion resistant, and has the Gore-Tex laminate," says Kathy Ruth, Gore's footwear specialist.
Durakool by W.L. Gore
Footwear Application: Liner
Properties:
Gore-Tex laminate
Abrasion resistant
Interesting look
Soft hand
Low drag
New Dimensions
Glen Raven is introducing the first Cordura knit liner to the footwear market this month. According to Hal Bates, marketing manager, the knit is "anti-abrasion with a 3-D look and offers manufacturers a chance to produce a 100-percent Cordura boot-inside and out."
Cordura Plus by Glen Raven Knits
Footwear Application: Liners
Properties:
100% Cordura Knit
Good tear strength
Wickzz moisture management system
Anti-microbial
Very abrasion resistant
Safe At Any Speed
The new footwear fabric from Montreal, Canada-based Rentex has a buttery-soft hand and appearance but has "the combined performance of the moisture management capability of Microtherm and the anti-microbial Microsafe properties, which makes it a perfect fabric for footwear applications," says Andy Coutant, product development manager at Concept III. It has just been picked-up by an aerobic shoe manufacturer.
Microsafe Vertical Rib by Rentex
Footwear Applications: Liners and footbeds
Properties:
Celanese MicroSafe anti-microbial properties
Moisture-air circulation
Very dryable
Leather Report
Produced by one of the top manufacturers of shoe fabrics, Faytex, this 100 percent Dri-Lex 2000 fabric was printed "as a leather effect for our customers who wanted it for their leather footwear," says Faytex's Tufts.
Tan Monaco by Faytex
Footwear Application: Liners
Properties:
Soft hand
Cool pseudo-leather appeal
Dri-Lex 2000 moisture management system
Control Power
Taking the idea of "two-faced" to a new level, Malden Mill's Element Control offers the plushness of warm moss with the durability of a rock. Currently being used in aqua socks, it is also being tested for Fall 1999 footwear, says Malden's Jon Silver.
Element Control by Malden Mills
Footwear Applications: Booties, aqua socks and liners
Properties:
4-way stretch
Velour/rubber face
High abrasion resistance
High water resistance
Space Concerns
Faytex recently patented its new Aerospacer fabric because it is the only footwear fabric on the market to have an air chamber in a hydrophilic/hydrophobic construction. "It can be used as any lining material or as an upper detail and it is moisture absorbing and has a built-in air chamber for quick drying," says Faytex's Tufts.
AeroSpacer 620 by Faytex
Footwear Applications: Footbeds, linings and uppers
Properties:
Hydrophobic
Hydrophilic
Air bed
Quick drying
Patented
1000 Reasons
Tapetex is offering a different approach to footwear designs-checkers. Presently on the market, its new Cordura 1000 "is different because the checker board design enhances the natural durability of DuPont Cordura and gives a new surface feature to the footwear market," says Carrie Johnson, director design and fabric development.
Cordura 1000 by Tapetex
Footwear Application: Uppers
Properties:
Very durable
Water repellent
Surface interest
Filling Space
The North Carolina-based mill has come out with some great footwear fabrics of late, and is now replacing neoprene with its Spacer fabrics. "CoolFlex performs two functions: support and breathability," says Ron Depoe, marketing director of industrial fabrics.
CoolFlex Spacer by Guilford Mills
Footwear Applications: Booties, tongues and liners
Properties:
Lycra for stretch
Flexible/Breathable
Monofilament "spacer"
Foam-like qualities.
On The Surface
Brookwood sees surface textures and performance as very important in the active and outerwear market and has developed a poly/nylon fabric for that reason. "The combination of the nail-head weave in a nylon/poly blend and the subtle luster from the cross-dye application married with the performance features of this fabric, makes it not only great for boots, but also for other end uses in outdoor goods," says Noris Solano, product development manager.
Explorer by Brookwood
Footwear Applications: Uppers
Properties:
Waterproof
Durable
Ability to cross-dye
Soft hand
Maxing Out
Adding to its performance fabrics, Rentex sees CoolMax as a great liner for sneakers, outdoor footwear, and even Tevas. "Its technology has a proven performance record for moisture management, quick dry times and is a brand manufacturers want," says Andy Coutant of Concept III.
DuPont CoolMax by Rentex
Footwear Application: Liners
Properties:
Mesh construction
Quick drying
Cooling system
Moisture managing
Keeping The Spirit
Schoeller's Spirit fabric is just over a year old and has already won numerous design awards while being picked-up by Nike. "It is really fashion forward at a time when manufacturers are looking for larger fashions statements," says Holly Johnson at Schoeller.
Spirit by Schoeller
Footwear Application: Uppers
Properties:
Florescent glow-in-the-dark yarn woven with monofilaments
3-D effect
Good abrasion resistance
Steeling The Show
The Swiss-based textile house has created a new weave to Keprotec that is being used by manufacturers like Spyder, Fila, Nike, and Timberland. Considered the "most bullet proof of fabrics," says Schoeller's Holly Johnson, Keprotec is a custom designed fabric ready to meet the needs of any shoe.
Keprotec by Schoeller
Footwear Applications: Uppers, patches, and inseams
Properties:
Aramid yarn wrapped around stainless steel fibers and woven with nylon.
Cut resistant
High abrasion resistant
"Chainmail" construction