New Delhi, India - From 27 to 29 July, Henkel showcased its efficient and sustainable portfolio of footwear and athleisure solutions at the India International Footwear Fair (IIFF) under the theme of "Less Taken, More Given."
As the leading adhesive expert in the Sports and Fashion industry, Henkel empowers sustainable transformation along the value chain and creates positive impacts in safety, climate, and circularity by providing safer chemicals and automation solutions for the industry.
Sports and Fashion is one of the fastest-growing industries shifting towards sustainability. When purchasing shoes and athleisure, consumers attach greater importance to eco-friendly materials. Meanwhile, manufacturers are facing two major challenges: demand for more sustainable products and processes, along with rising labour costs. To achieve environmental and economic performance, footwear manufacturers must concentrate on both material technology and workflows in their search for solutions that optimise sustainable production.
Henkel launches a series of sustainable footwear adhesive solutions with safer chemicals to ensure worker safety. Manufacturers used to opt for traditional solvent-based adhesives. These adhesives release volatile organic compounds (VOCs) that can degrade the health of factory employees in the long run. By 2020, All Henkel products have achieved toluene-free status. Its water-based solutions have reduced VOCs by 50%–100%, largely eliminating harmful chemicals.
Moreover, Henkel solutions have been awarded ZDHC MRSL certification and obtained BIS (Bureau of Indian standards) certification. This means its products comply with the latest Indian quality supervision standards, and the strictest industry standard. Our portfolio for Athleisure manufacturing has been certified by Bluesign, ECO-PASSPORT, and USDA. LOCTITE NSP 7810 contains 36% bio-based content, enabling a reduced carbon footprint with an enhanced, soft-touch feel.
Traditional footwear manufacturing is cumbersome and labour intensive, which could hardly meet the requirements of Industry 4.0. Henkel solutions enable modern production of shoes and reduce carbon footprint by eliminating production steps. Specifically, Henkel PUR hot melt for 2D and 3D automation production can improve efficiency in the use of labour, energy, factory space, and chemicals. With such solutions, 15 to 18 grams of adhesive can be saved per pair of shoes, with a sixfold productivity improvement possible. Furthermore, Henkel two-in-one adhesives (TIOA) and one-side adhesives (OSA) can also benefit manufacturers with savings in manpower, reduced chemical consumption, and a lower CO2 footprint, by eliminating certain processing steps for shoe sole and upper materials in the stock-fitting and assembly processes.
Addressing the challenge of textile lamination, Henkel also provides effective solutions. TECHNOMELT PUR 7529 and TECHNOMELT PUR 7530 can extend stock time before reactivation and provide a flexible lamination operation window. They are also resistant to washing with 90°C water, as well as repeated washing with detergents, improving garment durability. Henkel PURLEX, LOCTITE NSP 7788, recognised for exceptional elasticity for non-sewing applications, is of excellent green strength that ensures precise positioning. It requires a lower adhesive dispensing temperature, improving energy efficiency.
Henkel's 360° expertise ecosystem, covering product development, equipment support, compliance consultancy, and personnel training, creates higher value for customers and partners that goes "beyond adhesives." Our sustainable strategy consultancy injects momentum into companies in the areas of carbon emission reduction and life cycle assessment (LCA). This will further benefit companies to accelerate their ESG transformations, thus realising their sustainable development goals.
In India, Henkel has recently established a new application centre in Vellore. The new application centre showcases Henkel's industry-leading solutions with advanced equipment that facilitates testing and trials. It offers a platform for brands and factories to exchange technology ideation and validation. Additionally, to proactively embrace the new era of digitalisation, Henkel Remotech App offers customers a 24/7 digital technical service, including online troubleshooting.
Inspired by the vision "Pioneers at Heart for the Good of Generations," Henkel has anchored sustainability in everything it does. With robust technical expertise and extensive value chain cooperation, Henkel is committed to driving positive impacts on worker safety, CO2 footprint reduction and circularity for the Sports and Fashion industry, and empowering customers to achieve More with Less.
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