A new generation of products is coming to life in the Portuguese footwear industry. Twenty-four types of bio-leathers, 26 types of bio-fibres and 33 new footwear products are among the new solutions developed under the BioShoes4All project.

The Portuguese footwear industry is investing 80 million euros in order to become an international benchmark in the development of sustainable solutions. To this end, it has brought together a network of 70 partners, including companies, technology centres and universities. So far, 121 results have been achieved.
"The new developments include products with a significantly reduced environmental footprint, extra-light leathers, new tanning processes using new tannins, new industrial lines capable of recycling production waste, as well as new business models”, highlighted Maria José Ferreira, the project’s coordinator.
Divided into five pillars – Biomaterials, Ecological Footwear, Circular Economy, Advanced Production Technologies and Training and Promotion ¬–, the BioShoes4All project aims, according to Maria José Ferreira, "to ensure a resilient national production base for positioning in an international market in which innovation, differentiation, fast and effective response, service, product quality, training and promotion will be competitive arguments that will allow us to outperform the competition”. To do so, the footwear sector "has the ambition to bring about a radical change in materials, technologies, processes and products”. The project consists of 11 initiatives, 23 actions and 80 activities.

Point-to-point execution
After 24 months of implementation, the first results were presented at the first demonstration action of BioShoes4All. Within the Biomaterials pillar, 24 bio-leathers, chemical products and processes have been developed so far. These include 10 bio-leathers such as ecolight leather and box-calf (development of leather for high-top boots with vegetable tanning), research into new tannins for tanning (35 to 100% pine bark, 10 to 100% coffee grounds, leather scraps from production) and Wet-white (non-fossilised, bisphenol-free) and 14 new chemical products and processes, such as extracts from pine, olive trees, coffee and tannery waste, as well as a 20 to 25% reduction in water consumption. A pioneering industrial pilot line has also been developed.

Also in the same pillar, 26 bio-fibres, polymers, materials and components have been developed, of which 12 bio-fibres and polymers and 14 components and pilot lines. In total, there are more than 20 identified bio-fibres and fillers, PU bio-binders, PVC (90% bio), rubbers (80% bio), coated biomaterials (70% bio), toe caps, counters, insoles and soles and industrial pilot lines.

Under the Ecological Footwear pillar, 29 new footwear products have been developed, as well as 4 platforms and a pilot line. Within this universe, 24 products have a reduced environmental footprint, 23 have a reduced carbon footprint and 15 use fewer fossil resources. In addition, 52 life cycle assessments have been completed and 24 are ongoing.

In terms of the Economy Circular pillar, 14 advanced production technologies have been developed. Seven of these relate to traceability of footwear and leather goods, and seven relate to planning, eco-production and quality.

Still under this pillar, 10 results were presented on the valorisation of production waste: 8 on materials and composites and 2 on components and products. Concerning materials, the highlight was the presentation of thermoplastics containing recycled material: PVC 90%, TPU 95% and TR 90%, composites with 10 to 30% recycled rubber and up to 10 to 20% leather and 10 to 80% recycled EVA as an additive or by agglomeration. In terms of component development, the soles and footwear with recycled material that are currently under development and the 2 types of injected footwear (fashion and technical) are worth mentioning.

The fourth pillar, Advanced Production Technologies, covers two areas: Traceability and Logistics and Production Systems. In this context, 14 results were developed related to the circularity of pre- and post-consumer footwear, in particular four studies on consumption and management models for post-consumer products, a study on the disassembly of complex multi-material products and business models for the circular management of hospital and work footwear.
Finally, 10 results were also presented on footwear recycling and industrial symbiosis, namely the valorisation of post-consumer materials: rubber, PVC, SBS, SEBS, EVA, industrial symbiosis: circular fishing wetsuits (PVC) and surfing wetsuits (rubber) and soles with up to 50% recycled material, recycled footwear and life cycle analysis.

"We can be a beacon in this world of sustainability”. This was the message from the Secretary of State for the Environment at the end of the BioShoes4All demonstration action. Emídio Sousa took part in this initiative and learned about the new products developed under the project.

"Europe has set many legislative requirements that our companies sometimes find difficult to meet. Nevertheless, this difficulty that Europe faces today in achieving the objectives of sustainable development and the circular economy is real”, explains the Secretary of State. "But what was once a competitiveness problem can become a leadership tool. By addressing these difficulties, we can stay ahead of our competitors”.

"In fact, we already know that we need to look at resources differently and the solution is not to go barefoot, stop flying or return to the caves. I believe that Europe and Portugal have the capacity to discover new ways of using products and living on this unique planet”, he stressed.

Emídio Sousa also emphasised the need to keep young talent in Portugal. "We already have the best country in the world, we just need to adjust our salaries to give young people a decent life. And these developments we are talking about today can actually lead to much better salaries”.
"Why shouldn't we be the best? We have the best country in the world, we have people with skills. What do we lack? We have skilled jobs, but have we not developed the technology, the knowledge, or marketing innovation?”

"I leave today with a lot of hope: the hope that we will be better than our competitors and that we can be a beacon in this world of sustainability. We still have the challenge of not letting our young people go. We have to work to be better and better. That’s the way forward”.

For one day, APICCAPS and CTCP brought together the project’s 70 partners in a demonstration action to present the first results. In the morning, during the technical meeting of the consortium, the partners presented the developments made so far and the new challenges for the future.
In the afternoon, and as part of the Dissemination and Transfer of Knowledge to Industry Actions, APICCAPS and CTCP organised a demonstration action for the industry, highlighting the new generation of sustainable products resulting from the project.

In this context, bio-leathers, chemical products and processes; bio-fibres, polymers, composites, and components; eco-design, sustainable footwear and leather goods with a smaller environmental footprint; recycling and the circular economy and advanced production and control technologies were the main topics addressed.

During the afternoon, participants took part in several debates with some of the most important experts in the sector. During the opening session, Luís Onofre said that "it is possible to make a new qualitative leap”. This is why, according to the President of APICCAPS, "we have accepted the challenge of becoming a benchmark in the development of sustainable solutions”.

Maria José Ferreira, the coordinator of the BioShoes4All project, then gave an overview of the industry, namely the Contributions to the Sustainability and Strategic Plan of the Footwear Cluster, and presented the main results to date.

The first panel on ‘Bio-leathers and Processes’ featured Alfredo Crispim (leather specialist), Juliana Duarte (Curtumes Aveneda) and Manuel Dias (Dias Ruivo) and was moderated by Joaquim Gaião (CTIC). The experts explained what is being developed in the leather sector, highlighting four developments: ecolight leather (lighter leather), box-calf (development of vegetable-tanned leather), research into new tannins (pine bark 35 to 100%, coffee grounds 10 to 100%, leather scraps from production), Wet-white (non-fossilised, bisphenol-free).

The panel on ‘Bio-fibres, Materials and Components’ welcomed Joana Meireles (Atlanta), Luísa Sousa (Monteiro Ribas) and Tânia Carvalho (Luz Costa & Rodrigues/COBLEX) and was moderated by Manuela Pintado (UCP).

This was followed by a panel on ‘Recycling and the Circular Economy’, with Filipe Carneiro (Lipor), Ricardo Silva (Skypro) and Sofia Jesus (Procalçado), moderated by Carlos Fonseca (FEUP).

The topic of the ‘Industry of the Future’ was discussed by Ana Maria Vasconcelos (Belcinto), Paula Coutinho (Aloft), Paulo Monteiro (Kyaia) and Vera Pinto (CTCP), moderated by Rui Rebelo (INESC TEC).

Finally, Paulo Gonçalves (APICCAPS) spoke about communication and training. Since the start of the communication campaign, a total of 44 million people have been reached digitally.