Welcome to the magical world of components. When you enter Lineapelle, you enter a universe of raw materials and component solutions from all over the world. For three days, hundreds of businessmen work in advance to ensure the innovations of the next footwear and leather goods collections.
The Portuguese delegation at the fair was made up of 30 companies that showcased the best of Made in Portugal. With sustainability and climate change at the top of the global agenda, the footwear industry needs creative solutions, where everything can be transformed and where innovation is in every detail.
Nature is used as an inspiration to create new materials in line with sustainability .... and the ecological footprint that each Portuguese brand wants to leave in the world.
During the September edition, 23,800 industry professionals walked the aisles of Lineapelle, including 17,573 buyers (57% Italian, 43% international from 112 countries).
"There is an increasing demand for more efficient and ecological products – and this is where we can link with universities – more demand for more sustainable and efficient processes with new solutions”, explains Rudolfo Andrade. The head of Multicouro argues that "the leather industry has been able to make interesting leaps”.
In the world of components, Combocal introduced soles made from natural rubber and banana fibres. "In addition to rubber, other constituents, additives and reinforcements are of natural origin, such as silica comes, which from rice husks”, says Ricardo Pinto. "Another material that has been very successful at this fair is translucent materials, ice rubber, which we are already marketing. We also have materials with banana fibres, for example” adds the commercial manager of the components company.
Climate change and sustainability are global issues that require creative solutions. In this industry, anything can be transformed, including car tyres into soles. "When a tyre is produced, there is a surplus of fibres - polyester cord. To give this waste a new lease of life, we decided to mix it with a rubber compound and came up with a completely different sole concept”, explains Ricardo Pinto.
From Portugal, solutions were presented at the event that combine the know-how of universities with the efforts of several national companies, as a result of the work developed under the BioShoes4All project. As in the case of Atlanta.
"Adapting natural elements to sole solutions. We have soles inspired by the heart, the remora, the octopus, the Montez goat. Scientists have adapted the sole for greater comfort and energy dissipation, inspired by what we find in nature”.
"The project invests in innovative technologies at a national and European level. They allow us, for example, to make ultra-lightweight components and footwear from thermoplastic material. Until now, these lightweight materials were not thermoplastic, they were not recyclable. Now, we are making a significant contribution to sustainability and circularity”, explains Maria José Ferreira, coordinator of the project.