The production and export of athletic shoes have always been a leading industry in Fujian. With the development of enterprises, more and more shoe enterprises hope to carry out product innovation and produce safety footwear based on the original technology. Therefore, it is urgent to have an in-depth understanding of the product standards and certification procedures of safety footwear.
On March 9th, we held a Safety footwear technology seminar in Quanzhou office. It gave a comprehensive interpretation of the latest testing method EN ISO20344:2021 and product standard EN ISO 20345/6/7, covering the basic knowledge and detailed introduction of functional testing items. PFI provided answers to questions and doubts for many enterprises and, at the same time, informed about the EU Regulation (EU) 2016/426 of Safety footwear.
The materials used to produce athletic shoes cannot fully meet the quality requirements of safety footwear. For example, artificial leather is difficult to pass the permeability performance test. Additionally, in order to have excellent slip resistance performance, athletic shoe manufacturers need to improve the design and material formula of the outsole. The upper surface of safety footwear that meets the EU S3 standard should not only be breathable but also have waterproof function. All of these are the key points that enterprises must pay attention to when preparing to enter the European safety footwear market.
We advised that the new EU safety footwear standard has not yet become the EU harmonized standard, and there are still some project discussions and modifications. However, we suggested that enterprises should still design and produce in accordance with the requirements of the new standard because once the new standard is adopted by the EU, there will be only a very short transition period for the old standard.
We rounded up the event with a visit of our Quanzhou laboratory so our clients could have a deeper understanding of the testing equipment and testing methods.
For more information about safety footwear testing and certification, please feel free to contact us.
