Product characteristics

• Sports footwear is used while playing outdoor sports like football, cricket, hockey, tennis, etc.
• These shoes are also used for running / jogging and as casual wear.
• In India, most of the demand for sports shoes is from the casual wear segment.
• The specifications of the sports shoes vary with the end user requirements.
• For example,
  1. The football shoes are black in color with colored strips on the quarters. The tongue and the quarter portions have foam backed cloth lining. The sole of either rubber or leather is then attached by hand-sewn process. The rubber soles have grooves or leather studs for better hold on the ground.
  2. In case of cricket shoes, the upper is made from either white chrome or from nubuck leather. The lining of tongue is made of foam. The sole of the cricket boot is made of rubber or of leather.
• The technical textile components typically used in the sport shoes are as following:
  1. Shoe uppers made of PU/PVC coated/Laminated fabrics
  2. Linings on the counters and below the shoe uppers
  3. Others including non woven insoles, laces, tapes, labels, elastics, sandwiched meshes, etc
• The shoe upper material should have uniform thickness and color and should possess water-proofing property.
• The desired characteristics of the shoe uppers are
  1. Breathability
  2. Dimensional flexibility
  3. Color fastness
  4. Light weight
  5. Durability
• The shoe uppers and linings account for 90-95 % of the technical textile components used.

The key demand drivers for this industry are:-

• Increasing trend of usage of the sports shoes as casual wear.
• Rising disposable incomes.
• Sport shoes being perceived as status symbols.
• Popularity of various sports.
• Increasing health awareness.

Raw materials:

• PVC and PU fabrics are the most widely used material for sport shoes and are also known as artificial leather.
• PU fabrics have the advantage of higher breath-ability over PVC fabrics.

Major testing done:

The fabrics are subjected to the following tests for various physical properties.

Technology used:

• Weaving
• Braiding