Texon’s Technical Troubleshooter Goes Into Action

Shoemaking is never straightforward when you’re trying to bond natural and synthetic materials successfully. There are many variables involved to get the bonding right. Everything from the adhesive to the polymer blend can affect your results and when things don’t go to plan, working out exactly what happened and why can be a challenge.

Experience and expertise

So whenever our clients run into technical difficulties, we don’t hang around. In this case it was one of our biggest clients that contacted us. The client in question is a global-leading footwear brand. We sent in Brian Walsh, one of our most experienced senior development technicians, to investigate.

Brian’s been in the business for over 25 years. Having solved similar problems for clients before. Brian asked the client for some production samples and began planning his in-depth investigation.

Rigorous tests

After a series of rigorous tests, Brian soon established that Texon’s materials were performing to their usual high standards. Instead, the problems lay with the structure of the leather being used, specifically, variations in the leather’s oil content were the key issue. It was these variations that were causing the bonding problem.

Successful conclusion

With his findings in place, Brian began a positive dialogue with the client aimed at addressing the issue of bonding. The process involved Texon’s technical services team examining the client’s production processes in detail.

Due to natural variations in the leather being used, this won’t be a quick fix solution. But by identifying the problem accurately and early on, we are confident of a successful conclusion to this issue.