News > Safety shoes with integrated GORE-TEX laminate

Bata Industrials is introducing new safety shoes with an integrated GORE-TEX laminate. With this introduction Bata Industrials once again expands its concept of ‘Footwear beyond safety’, an all-embracing concept in the field of safety shoes. The effect of GORE-TEX footwear laminates GORE-TEX footwear laminates are waterproof and highly breathable. As a result, they offer the wearers greater comfort, particularly in wet working environments. Generally speaking, wear comfort is to a large extent determined by the degree to which the boots nurture the thermal balance, and therefore also the moisture transfer between the feet and the surrounding environment. This calls for adequate thermal insulation, permanent waterproofness in combination with breathability, and outstanding moisture absorption and transfer qualities. The GORE-TEX membrane is a microporous functional layer inside the shoe. The membrane remains constantly waterproof as water droplet are 20,000 times bigger than a membrane pore. Yet it is still breathable, as perspiration molecules are approx. 700 times smaller than a membrane pore and can escape outwards virtually unhindered. The GORE-TEX membrane is embedded in a holistic, functional concept negotiated with the shoe manufacturers to guarantee a comprehensive quality control through to the finished product. Target groups Bata Industrials’ new models of GORE-TEX safety shoe have been designed with a particular focus on the professional who often works in a damp and/or wet environment, and who would benefit from a waterproof, ‘breathable’ and therefore more comfortable shoe. The target group includes people employed in the building industry, civil engineering, agriculture, horticulture and forestry, transport and logistics. Like the other safety shoes in ‘The Natural’ and ‘Traxx’ shoe lines, the new models are characterised by high quality and durability. They also offer exceptional comfort to the wearer, definitely rendering wet and cold feet a thing of the past, and ensuring that they no longer give rise to health-threatening situations (cooling). They keep the wearer’s feet dry and warm, thus increasing productivity and reducing absenteeism on the work floor. Models The models incorporating GORE-TEX laminates represent an expansion of the existing shoe lines, ‘Traxx’ and ‘The Natural’, and they are available in S2 or S3 (with steel mid-sole). There are three additional models in each line. For Traxx these are the ‘Traxx 101’, ‘Traxx 102’ and the ‘Traxx 103’. All three models are made from nubuck leather combined with ventilating nylon mesh, and they have a QuattroTech sole and TPU toe caps. Attractively integrated in the design, this innovation offers superior protection, particularly to users who work on their knees a great deal. The shoes are available in sizes 36-48. The shoe line, ‘The Natural’, is expanded with the models ‘Karok’, ‘Torbat’ and ‘Wintu’, made from full grain leather and fitted with a TriTech sole. All three models are available mondopoint sizes 232-315 and in the width fittings W and XW. They enable Bata Industrials to offer wearers with broad feet an appropriate alternative. Special socks Even if high-quality GORE-TEX safety shoes from Bata fulfil all wearer’s requirements, they still need to be worn with the appropriate socks and inlay soles and cleaned with the right agents to support the system as a whole. Following that Bata Industrials is also introducing two special socks as an accessory to the GORE-TEX safety shoes. There is the ‘Traxx All Weather’ for the Traxx and the ‘Riva’ for The Natural. Made from synthetic yarns, the socks do not retain the wearer’s body moisture but conveys it to the shoe interior from where it is transported outside the shoe through the GORE-TEX laminate. Co-operation The introduction of the GORE-TEX safety shoe is the direct result of the co-operative relationship entered into in 2003 between Bata Industrials and W.L.Gore & Associates, the inventor manufacturer of the GORE-TEX membrane.