Issue link: https://viewer.e-digitaledition.com/i/1532683
J ames Reuther, Associate Professor of Chemistry at UMass Lowell (UML), highlights sustainability as the critical factor for its "Self-Healing Combat Boot" research, currently being conducted at UML's Fabric Discovery Center (FDC). Supported by the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) and AFFOA (Advanced Functional Fabrics of America), this UML FDC study is one of three American University FDCs, established by the AFFOA to spur innovation for advanced fibers and fabrics. According to Reuther, 20 billion pairs of shoes are currently being produced annually, and 100% of this footwear contains polyurethane (PU), which is non-recyclable and the vast majority is non-biodegradable. is leads to large accumulations of footwear in landfills that impacts the environment. Reuther adds, "My main motivation for this project is to develop sustainable PU material alternatives to facilitate other recyclable and up-scalable products that can potentially lead to reintegrating PU byproducts for a variety of other applications." e initial phase of the project (HEROES SWIFT I - e Supporting Warfighters through Innovative Footwear Technologies) began in August 2023 as a collaboration between UML and Poly Laboratories & Solutions LLC, a polyurethane processing company in Lewiston, ME to advance footwear technologies for U.S. Warfighters. AFFOA's mission for this project focuses on developing next generation PU alternative combat boot outsoles as a replacement for the conventional rubber outsoles currently being used. e team's goals include: 1) Demonstrate that PU outsoles can meet the Army's physical specifications, while lowering the weight and break-in time, compared to conventional rubber; 2) demonstrate that the incorporation of novel, dynamic monomer units into PU formulations can introduce self-healing properties, recyclability, and controlled- degradability without sacrificing performance, and 3) create the potential for other end-of-life applications for these components. e second phase of the project (HEROES SWIFT II), began in April 2024. In this stage, UML collaborated with the Haartz Corporation, a world leader in synthetic leather production, to assess the potential replacement of the cattle-hide leather (currently in use for the upper components of the combat boots) with UPDATING THE UNIFORM University of Massachusetts Lowell Introduces Self-Healing, Sustainable Combat Boots. By Kathlyn Swantko EDUCATION / UMASS LOWELL FabricLink.com TheTechnicalCenter.com "Thank you for all the support you have provided to Concept III over the years. You know how much we value it. Keep up the good work!" David Parkes President Concept III Textiles Why clients are excited about the benefits of The FabricLink Network Partnership Opportunities: Kristi Rummel kristi@rummelmedia.com 608.435.6220 Editorial Opportunities: Kathy Swantko kgswantko@fabricklink.com 818.345.7501 How will they find you, if you're not there? The FabricLink Network THE Networking / Education Search Engine for ALL Things Textile Related! FL-TTC-TI-2016-2_Layout 1 9/19/19 11:54 AM Page 1 30 • Textile Insight ~ Winter 2025 textileinsight.com Synthesized PU outsoles with 0%, 1%, 5%, and 10% (left to right) dynamic monomer integrated are used to compare mechanical properties, recyclability and degradability between PU-vitrimers and con- trols incapable of reprocessing.