Deliver To:

  • Afghanistan
  • Albania
  • Algeria
  • Amer.Virgin Is.
  • American Samoa
  • Andorra
  • Angola
  • Anguilla
  • Antarctica
  • Antigua Barbuda
  • Argentina
  • Armenia
  • Aruba
  • Australia
  • Austria
  • Azerbaijan
  • Bahamas
  • Bahrain
  • Bangladesh
  • Barbados
  • Belarus
  • Belgium
  • Belize
  • Benin
  • Bermuda
  • Bhutan
  • Bolivia
  • Bonaire, Saba
  • Bosnia-Herz.
  • Botswana
  • Bouvet Island
  • Brazil
  • Brit.Ind.Oc.Ter
  • Brit.Virgin Is.
  • Brunei Daruss.
  • Bulgaria
  • Burkina Faso
  • Burundi
  • C. African Rep.
  • Cambodia
  • Cameroon
  • Canada
  • Cape Verde
  • Cayman Islands
  • Chad
  • Chile
  • Christmas Islnd
  • Coconut Islands
  • Colombia
  • Comoros
  • Congo
  • Cook Islands
  • Costa Rica
  • Cote d'Ivoire
  • Croatia
  • Curacao
  • Cyprus
  • Czech Republic
  • Dem. Rep. Congo
  • Denmark
  • Djibouti
  • Dominica
  • Dominican Rep.
  • Ecuador
  • Egypt
  • El Salvador
  • Equatorial Guin
  • Eritrea
  • Estonia
  • Ethiopia
  • Falkland Islnds
  • Faroe Islands
  • Fiji
  • Finland
  • France
  • Frenc.Polynesia
  • French Guiana
  • French S.Territ
  • Gabon
  • Gambia
  • Georgia
  • Germany
  • Ghana
  • Gibraltar
  • Greater China (Chinese Mainland)
  • Greater China (Hong Kong SAR)
  • Greater China (Macau SAR)
  • Greater China (Taiwan)
  • Greece
  • Greenland
  • Grenada
  • Guadeloupe
  • Guam
  • Guatemala
  • Guinea
  • Guinea-Bissau
  • Guyana
  • Haiti
  • Heard McDon.Isl
  • Honduras
  • Hungary
  • Iceland
  • India
  • Indonesia
  • Iraq
  • Ireland
  • Israel
  • Italy
  • Jamaica
  • Japan
  • Jordan
  • Kazakhstan
  • Kenya
  • Kiribati
  • Kosovo
  • Kuwait
  • Kyrgyzstan
  • Laos
  • Latvia
  • Lebanon
  • Lesotho
  • Liberia
  • Liechtenstein
  • Lithuania
  • Luxembourg
  • Madagascar
  • Malawi
  • Malaysia
  • Maldives
  • Mali
  • Malta
  • Marshall Islnds
  • Martinique
  • Mauritania
  • Mauritius
  • Mayotte
  • Mexico
  • Micronesia
  • Minor Outl.Isl.
  • Moldova
  • Monaco
  • Mongolia
  • Montenegro
  • Montserrat
  • Morocco
  • Mozambique
  • Myanmar
  • N.Mariana Islnd
  • Namibia
  • Nauru
  • Nepal
  • Netherlands
  • New Caledonia
  • New Zealand
  • Nicaragua
  • Niger
  • Nigeria
  • Niue
  • Norfolk Island
  • North Macedonia
  • Norway
  • Oman
  • Pakistan
  • Palau
  • Panama
  • Pap. New Guinea
  • Paraguay
  • Peru
  • Philippines
  • Pitcairn
  • Poland
  • Portugal
  • Puerto Rico
  • Qatar
  • Reunion
  • Romania
  • Russian Fed.
  • Rwanda
  • S. Sandwich Ins
  • S.Tome,Principe
  • Saint Helena
  • Saint Lucia
  • Samoa
  • San Marino
  • Saudi Arabia
  • Senegal
  • Serbia
  • Seychelles
  • Sierra Leone
  • Singapore
  • Sint Maarten
  • Slovakia
  • Slovenia
  • Solomon Islands
  • Somalia
  • South Africa
  • South Korea
  • Spain
  • Sri Lanka
  • St Kitts&Nevis
  • St. Vincent
  • St.Pier,Miquel.
  • Suriname
  • Svalbard
  • Swaziland
  • Sweden
  • Switzerland
  • Tajikistan
  • Tanzania
  • Thailand
  • Timor-Leste
  • Togo
  • Tokelau
  • Tonga
  • Trinidad,Tobago
  • Tunisia
  • Turkey
  • Turkmenistan
  • Turksh Caicosin
  • Tuvalu
  • Uganda
  • Ukraine
  • United Kingdom
  • United States
  • Uruguay
  • Utd.Arab Emir.
  • Uzbekistan
  • Vanuatu
  • Vatican City
  • Venezuela
  • Vietnam
  • Wallis,Futuna
  • West Sahara
  • Yemen
  • Zambia
  • Zimbabwe

High-Performance Shoe Materials 

Person tying high performance shoes

High-Performance Shoe Materials 

Staying a step ahead in footwear design and comfort

When it comes to reaching athletic excellence, the right footwear can make all the difference. Our high-performance shoes are meticulously designed to enhance performance, providing a range of benefits that can push boundaries and achieve extraordinary results. Be it advanced cushioning for comfort, or better rebound for speed and responsiveness, Dow continues to push the boundaries for material quality and performance when it comes to high-performance shoes.

We work side-by-side with some of the world’s top footwear manufacturers to help them create high-performance footwear that delivers on every occasion. In addition to athletic performance, we also work to help them improve the sustainability profile of their high-performance footwear – through lowering carbon emissions and supporting recyclability.

Heel Counter
Heel Counter

Cradling the heel and arch while securely positioning the foot in place in the shoe, heel counters offer the rearfoot stability runners need to stay on stride even over long distances.

Product

Technical Details

Midsole
Midsole

Depending on how stiff and firm—or cushiony and flexible a midsole is, it can improve stability, enhance comfort and help address specific injuries and types of pain. Dow materials contribute a range of characteristics, including light weight with exceptional resilience, durability and softness.

Product

Technical Details

Outsole
Outsole

Literally where the rubber hits the road, the outsole of the shoe has to provide the perfect balance of toughness, lightweight, durability and flexibility. Dow foams, resins and other materials work together to offer the right performance properties for the sport and environment—whether that’s on the track, field or court.

Product

Technical Details

Toe Box

Toe Box

The part of the shoe that covers and protects the toes, the toe box has to be both rigid and flexible.

Product

Technical Details

Insole
Insole

Insoles cushion the foot from stress, distributing the body’s weight and supporting the arches. Dow materials offer the excellent durability, resilience and stability needed to help keep athletes light on their feet and protected from injury.

Product

Technical Details

Blue sneaker with shadow isolated on white
The Curry Flow 8 basketball shoe in flexion on yellow background, with a focus on the sole of the shoe

Powering Under Armour’s high-performance athletic shoes

Dow’s unitsole technology helps power the performance of Under Armour’s Flow range of athletic shoes, including the Curry Flow 8 which delivers improved traction and rebound. Utilizing our experience in materials science, Under Armour was able to dial in on energy return, shock absorption and traction to enhance the court feel, cushioning and speed of movement without sacrificing durability. This added durability helps extend the life of the shoe and reduce waste.

LEARN MORE

Dow and Under Armour win 2022 Edison award

The collaboration with Under Armour received an Edison award in 2022—marking it as a pioneering achievement in product and service development, human-centered design, and innovation. 

READ MORE
Curry Flow 8 hovering on white
  • Resources card image
    Welcome to the future of performance apparel

    Where collaboration breeds innovation, and materials science performs like magic. At Dow, we don’t just engineer materials. We design custom solutions with you that redefine what performance apparel can achieve, helping your brand’s clothing, shoes or bags stand out from the crowd. 

    LEARN MORE

    High-performance midsole materials for high-performance footwear 

    Pushing boundaries further in sports and active lifestyles becoming commonplace means high-performance shoes are seeing rising requirements in flexibility, adhesion, and foaming capabilities. As a result, olefin-based polymers such as ENGAGE™ Polyolefin Elastomers (POEs), including our plant-based ENGAGE™ REN POEs, are often blended with ELVAX™ EVA (ethylene-vinyl acetate)-based foams to enhance performance and processing. In addition, INFUSE™ Olefin Block Copolymers (OBCs), ELVALOY™ Copolymers and ENERLYTE™ Polyurethane Elastomers can be added to produce midsoles with greater levels of performance, comfort, and durability. 

  • Resources card image

    Watch how to improve midsole performance with INFUSE™ OBCs.

    WATCH VIDEO
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    Learn how INFUSE™ OBCs outperform e-TPUs in cost and performance.

    VIEW BROCHURE
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    Find the right high-performance polyurethanes solutions for your active consumer.

    VIEW BROCHURE

    • Insole high-performing shoes  

    For over two decades, Dow has been providing the footwear industry with a broad portfolio of advanced polyurethane insole systems, helping sports brands create shoes with characteristics tailored to the needs of high-performance users.  

    VORALAST™ Polyurethane Systems

    VORALAST™ Polyurethane Components deliver a polyurethane insole system optimal for protection and comfort.

    VIEW PRODUCT

    Unitsoles enable new sole structures for enhanced performance

    Athletes know that top-of-the-range shoes can deliver a competitive difference in performance. That’s where Dow’s unitsole solutions enable brands such as Under Armour to sustainably produce lightweight footwear that delivers no-compromise performance, while simplifying the production process to deliver lower carbon footprint.

    This simplification enables the following benefits:

    Proficient

    Use of less materials and energy during production with the number of manufacturing steps reduced from ten to two. 

    Efficiency

    High productivity and cost savings for manufacturers with over 50% reduction in cycle time to assemble a shoe sole.

    Reduction

    Reduced need for stock fitting.

  • Resources card image
    Recovery – the key to athletic performance

    Learn about the exceptional recovery properties of INFUSE™ Olefin Block Copolymers (OBCs).

    LEARN MORE
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    Advantaged performance balance of flexibility and heat resistance

    Select the ideal INFUSE™ Olefin Block Copolymers for your application.

    LEARN MORE

    • It starts with collaboration

    Let’s work together to deliver high-performance footwear that is comfortable innovative and improve your footwear applications.

    CONTACT US