Addressing the footwear sector

摘要

During the late 1960s, Porvair used technology based on polyurethane to create a new material at 2.0-3.0 mm for use in shoe uppers. During the 1970s these poromerics were the company's key area of business, and turned out particularly well in the military sectors where military leathers -officers' shoes, belts, gun holsters -became big business, both in the USA and in Europe. Developments in the late 1970s enabled exttusion of the PU to form a water vapour permeable membrane at 0.4 mm. This could be finished, thus creating a foil as a combined finish and "grain" layer that could be laminated to splits using a system developed by the company. By 1982, this technology - branded Permair - was fully established with a core of five tanners strategically placed around the world who were using their splits to create the new product.