INNOVATIONS IN MODERN WORK BOOTS
Work boots for men and women with tough jobs have come a long way since 1892, when Albert Weinbrenner took over his father’s cobbler shop in Milwaukee and the Thorogood story began. While many tried-and-true techniques in work boot manufacturing remain at the pinnacle of quality–such as the use of high-quality full-grain hides in crafting the uppers of leather boots–there have been impressive advances in many other aspects of work boot design and construction. With the launch of the Genesis series, many of these advances are on proud display, and worth a closer look.
COMPOSITE AND NANO COMPOSITE TOE BOOTS
Nowhere is the technological advancement of modern work boots more clear than in the design of safety toe boots. Traditional steel toe boots are still very common and effective in protecting workers from impact and compression hazards on the jobsite, with a cup of molded steel secured into the toe box of the boot to protect the toes and forefoot. These steel toes are incredibly strong, but add weight to the boot. In recent years, a number of steel alternatives have been developed, including alloys that contain lightweight aluminum or titanium for an improved strength-to-weight ratio. These alloy toes provide the same protection for workers, while allowing the boot to be lighter, reducing fatigue.
With even higher strength-to-weight ratios, non-metallic composites have grown in popularity. Composite toe work boots feature toe caps made from a mixture of materials such as aramid fiber (Kevlar), fiberglass, graphite fiber, carbon fiber, and plastic. In combination, these materials are stronger than any one of them would be on its own. In addition to their high strength-to-weight ratio, composite toes have a number of advantages over steel toe work boots. They’re more comfortable, producing a boot with a more balanced weight distribution. They are poor transmitters of heat, making them ideal for work in hot or cold environments. They also don’t conduct electricity, giving them improved electrical hazard protection. They won’t set off metal detectors, making them ideal for folks working around secure sites. And contrary to popular myths, they maintain the same impact and compression protection as the heavier steel. OSHA uses ASTM International’s testing as their standard for rating work boots for onsite safety, so look for ASTM ratings on any safety boots you consider buying–if it’s ASTM-rated for impact and compression protection, then it has been thoroughly tested to meet ASTM International’s rigorous standards, regardless of whether the toe cap is steel, alloy, or composite.
Their weight advantages and the ease of molding composite materials during the construction phase has led to a proliferation of safety toe footwear designs, as boot makers take advantage of composites’ versatility to put safety toes in a wider range of footwear styles, like the lightweight hikers and work sneakers in the Crosstrex series.
Some modern safety toe boots are now crafted using advanced nanotechnology. Nano composite toes are named for the carbon “nanotubes” they are made of–tiny carbon structures too small to see with the naked eye that are arranged in a beehive pattern and wrapped into a cylinder only 10-50 nanometers in diameter. For size reference, one nanometer is to a tennis ball what a tennis ball is to the planet Earth.
Despite their small size, carbon nanotubes are incredibly strong. When they’re combined with fiberglass resin and molded into the toe cap, they create some of the strongest and lightest safety toe boots on the market. The nanotube structure distributes stress more evenly across the toe cap, adding to its impact and compression resistance. And because the tiny nanotubes add so much strength to the composite material, the toecap walls can be constructed much thinner than even a traditional composite toe, freeing up room in the toe box. They can even be made to have some flex, creating an even more comfortable fit.
Thorogood’s new Genesis series includes several styles with a nano safety toe, producing extremely lightweight work boots with maximum possible protection.
ADVANCING WATERPROOF BOOTS
Waterproof-breathable textiles are a huge improvement in footwear construction. In the past, waterproofing work or rain boots could only be achieved by using a thick, water-impermeable material like rubber, or covering boots with a waterproof resin or oil. The drawback of these methods when it comes to work boots in particular is that the waterproofing works both ways. The materials or treatments blocked moisture from passing into the boot, but also locked sweat in with the foot. During heavy exertion, this could become a big problem, contributing to blisters and foot problems. In part, this is what waterproofing is meant to avoid in the first place.
Waterproof-breathable textiles are actually three thin layers of fabric together. Two layers of nylon are placed on either side of a microporous material like PTFE (Teflon). Not quite watertight, micropores are less than one micrometer in diameter. This is large enough for a gas like steam to pass through, but too small for the molecules of liquids. This is the key to how the breathable membranes in waterproof work boots function. The sweat that your body creates when you work evaporates from your socks and the internal lining of the boot, and it’s in this gas form that it can pass through the membrane.
SLIP RESISTANCE
Rubber and polyurethane (PU) are the go-to materials for constructing work boot soles, due to their combination of hardiness and flexibility. Outsoles must stand up to a lot of punishment, absorbing the shocks of constant foot strikes and flexing to meet the needs of the person wearing the boot. PU has traditionally been found to hold up longer to the duress of heavy work than rubber, though it is a little more rigid than conventional rubber. However, advances in rubber formulation technology have produced some impressive improvements in the performance of rubber outsoles. The soles of Genesis series work boots are constructed using a synthetic nitrile rubber formulation. Not only is nitrile rubber softer than standard rubber, helping to grip the ground more effectively, it is much more rugged, resisting abrasion, heat, oil, and chemicals as effectively as PU (in testing, the Genesis outsole exceeded abrasion-resistance standards by a full 50%).
Advances in our understanding of how footwear outsoles interact with their environment have also helped lead to changes in how these soles are constructed. In hiking boots, for example, you want to look for deep, multi-directional lugs that grip onto uneven surfaces like rocks and soil. In work boots built for artificial surfaces like concrete and pavement, however, these lugs actually minimize the amount of contact between the boot and the ground, drastically reducing the friction coefficient between the two. To maximize friction and prevent slips, modern work boots are built with outsoles that lie as flush as possible with the ground. The introduction of siping and water evacuation channels provides paths for the weight of the boot to squeeze water out of the way and grip the ground directly.