Midsole Solutions for Performance Footwear| Dow Inc.

Your midsoles. Your way.

Millions of people love running. But even more people – including many with absolutely no desire to run anywhere – love high-performance shoes designed for running and other sports. Of course, all those different people have different wants and needs regarding cushioning, comfort, rebound … you name it.

That’s where we can help. Teaming up with Dow gives you a developmental partner you can count on. By combining our efforts, we can produce high-quality, injection molded crosslinked (IM-XL) foam midsoles that meet and exceed the demands of virtually any type of footwear.

Innovation through collaboration

Working side-by-side with top footwear manufacturers and other members of the value chain allows us to help develop groundbreaking solutions. And with a deep product portfolio that includes olefin block copolymers (OBCs), polyolefin elastomers (POEs), ethylene vinyl acetate copolymers (EVAs) and more, we can offer the right materials to meet the toughest challenges.

Here’s an example: INFUSE™ OBCs were beginning to gain traction with exceptional combinations of softness, resilience, recovery and dimensional stability. Manufacturers had started to realize “the more INFUSE™ OBC, the better.” There was only one misstep: At higher INFUSE™ OBC levels, conventional adhesives couldn’t provide sufficient bond strength. To fulfill demand for OBC-rich midsoles, we needed to fix the issue – and fix it fast. Collaboration with NANPAO Group led to the development of Primer P827, a breakthrough that allows use of INFUSE™ OBCs at levels up to 100 percent with:

Excellent green strength
Good color stability
Strong final bonds

INFUSE™ OBCs offer improved recovery and reduced compression set over time.

Rebound and Recovery Overview

Take sole control

Joining with us can help give you complete control of your midsole formulations. You can choose the longtime, low-cost industry standard, EVA. High vinyl acetate content ELVAX™ EVAs enable low hardness, good resilience, strong bonding, high filler acceptance and more. Or ENGAGE™ POEs, designed to bridge the gaps between rubber and plastics. Or INFUSE™ OBCs, which offer comparable or better performance at lower total costs than expanded thermoplastic polyurethane (E-TPU)(2) – a competitive material that’s received widespread attention for its energy management capabilities. You can also blend any of these Dow options with each other or other pieces of our portfolio to produce customized midsole formulations with fine-tuned performance based on consumer desires.

Our high-performance midsole toolkit features diverse materials with complementary advantages:

Nonpolar ethylene copolymers