India is the 2nd largest producer of footwear in world with a CAGR (2022-27) of about 12.83%. Our market research shows that many of the earlier manufacturers in footwear have transferred their operations from a rubber base to PU. PU Soles have revolutionized how footwear is manufactured and used. The Italian PU footwear machines were the first fully automatic machines which improved the productivity and number of pairs per day for the user company. Followed by Chinese and Indian machines the whole game got changed as the capex reduced and every footwear manufacturer tried to get an in house PU Footwear manufacturing machine.
The Polyurethane (PU) sole is the end result of injecting 3 major components for reaction namely Polyol, Isoprepolymer & Cross Linker. The formulation involves adding of a catalyst or additive to control the reaction and rising time of the sole in a mould. A typical PU footwear machine involves a head having 2 streams of Polyol + Cross-linker and Isoprepolymer to fill in the mould as per required density and hardness of sole which passes through a heated chamber to complete the reaction. Chappals mould are such that the finished product is produced directly as PU has binding properties as well. Shoe soles are generally being produced separately and are then pasted in the upper part of a shoe. A PU sole is the most advanced technology in footwear having amazing properties of being flexible and rigid at the same time.
A set of Polyol & Isoprepolymer is termed as PU Footwear system. Polyols are formed by a high temperature based polymeric reaction which has a high molecular weight. Polyols can be typically classified as Polyester based or Polyether based. Isoprepolymers are a result of reaction between MDI/TDI (Methylene/Toluene Diphenyl Isocynate) and Polyols to form a stable compound. In India, pure MDI/TDI production has been banned as it comes under hazardous category. Though various companies are doing blending of the product.
San Polychem in its market research has found out that most of the PU raw material suppliers are a multi-million dollar Multinational corporations involved in production or trading of PU Footwear system. Whereas, very few Indian companies are merely surviving the battle against this high capital intensive business. As told earlier that India is second largest in producing footwear yet the PU Footwear raw material availability is completely dependent on foreign countries, we decided to put our efforts in making this product readily & extensively available in market without any lags or delays of importing the raw material from other countries by promoting Make in India scheme of Government of India.
By working along with Industry’s best minds, we started production operations in 2019 and since then we are catering to multiple clients in India. Our products are high in quality and have desired specifications as per the sole quality required. We have various different ranges for products used in Chappal making, Sole making and Safety shoes making & can be custom made according to the specific requirement from client. We also deal in specialized requirement in Footpads raw material, soft sole material, high hardness material etc.