Good foot and shoe climate – what to look for?
In another blog post, we have already dealt extensively with the topic of foot moisture and described various solutions such as breathable materials on the shoe. Above all, it is important to use materials that are kind to the skin. Otherwise, when sweating in the shoe, harmful substances can get into the skin and cause discomfort. This applies to both leather and textiles.
For leather, for example, there is the ECARF Seal of Quality from the European Centre for Allergy Research Foundation. Leathers bearing this seal of quality are even suitable for allergy sufferers and tested for the best skin compatibility and freedom from harmful substances. For this reason and good experience, we use these leathers as standard for our shoes, especially in the lining area.
In the textile sector, there are also special quality seals that indicate that the materials used have been tested for harmful substances and are kind to the skin. One of these quality seals is the Oeko-Tex Standard. Here you can be sure that the material used has been tested for harmful substances and the article is therefore harmless to health. Especially with our Runnertune running shoe models, we pay close attention to the fact that the textiles processed in the shoe carry this quality label.
But as already seen from the
previous article
the largest amount of foot moisture is released in the area of the sole of the foot. There are various approaches to solving this problem:
- The absorption of foot moisture inside the shoe
This means that materials inside the shoe absorb and store foot moisture. In earlier days, when there were no removable footbeds, this was the task of the so-called insole. This was made of vegetable tanned leather and several millimeters thick. This allows the insole to absorb a certain amount of foot moisture without major problems. With increasing industrial shoe production and the accompanying cost pressure, more and more recourse was made here to cheap substitutes of inferior quality. The result of this can be easily deduced: The absorption of moisture in this case is no longer guaranteed, the problem is not solved! which are not or hardly able to absorb moisture. With the advent of removable insoles, another attempt was made to address the problem. The structure of these insoles is usually the same: Below the base material – usually consisting of soft foam. Then follows a layer of adhesive, and on top – the cover material – leather or textile. However, the adhesive acts as a moisture barrier that does not allow moisture to be transferred to the footbed base – provided that the material is capable of absorbing moisture at all. The fact that this principle does not work can be seen from the fact that many manufacturers try to conduct moisture further downwards by punching holes in the insoles, but the materials used also prevent moisture absorption.
- Conduct foot moisture to the outside
This system became known through advertising with the “steaming sole”. Through holes in the sole of the shoe, the foot moisture is transported to the outside. A membrane protects against the penetration of moisture from the outside, which – to put it simply – is incorporated between the shoe’s inner material and the outsole. What sounds like a brilliant idea in theory, unfortunately works in practice in a rather limited way. To do this, you just need to look at the absolute area on the outsole with holes and put them in relation to the total area of the sole of the foot. If you then consider that these holes can also be clogged by external influences such as dirt, etc., it quickly becomes clear that this solution is not THE solution.
For this reason, we take a different, holistic approach to our shoes, considering all the factors already discussed. You can read more about this in our article on this topic –
please click here
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