World's First! Commercialization Success of 'Meta-Structure Applied Trekking Shoes' ... Busan City Korea Materials Convergence Research Institute

Busan City announced that the Korea Institute of Materials Convergence (Director Kim Dong-geon) has succeeded in commercializing the world's first trekking shoes applying a meta-structure through the city's footwear and leather research and development support project.

Meta-structured trekking shoes (N brand).

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Since 2015, the city has been providing an annual subsidy of 800 million KRW to the Korea Institute of Materials Convergence through the footwear and leather research and development support project to enhance the research capabilities and technological competitiveness of footwear manufacturing companies in the Busan area.

The institute develops commercializable footwear and leather technologies and conducts on-site technical guidance for small businesses.

By transferring all technologies developed through research and development to participating companies, it enables them to increase employment and sales through commercialization, and provides a foundation for growth by improving productivity through technical guidance.

The meta-structure is a shock-absorbing and rebound-simultaneous implementation structure that, unlike typical shock-absorbing structures which contract to absorb impact, expands rather than compresses when force is applied.

This technology is applied in special military supplies such as stealth and bulletproof vests.

Wearing trekking shoes with a meta-structure allows for more comfortable running compared to regular products due to the high rebound force of the meta-structure.

The meta-structure trekking shoes that have now been successfully commercialized were previously not commercialized due to difficulties in mass production. Meta-structure technology could only be implemented and applied to products through textile weaving or 3D printing, which are limited to small-scale production.

The Korea Institute of Materials Convergence developed a groundbreaking method to switch the production process to an injection molding method capable of mass production through one year of research on materials, structural design, and molds, about two years of commercialization mass production testing, and subsequent technology development, achieving successful commercialization.

The research and development was jointly conducted with Korea BTM (CEO Shin Byung-min), a footwear parts injection molding company in the Busan area.

This case is the first example of applying a meta-structure to a finished product using an injection molding method capable of mass production, attracting high interest from both domestic and overseas footwear industries.

N Company, a leading domestic outdoor brand, has decided to apply the newly developed meta-structure technology to its new trekking shoes, and the new product featuring the meta-structure technology is scheduled to be released in March.

Mayor Park Hyung-jun stated, “This case is a valuable result of the footwear and leather research and development support project that the city has steadily promoted for over 10 years to enhance the research capabilities and technological competitiveness of footwear manufacturing companies in the Busan area.” He added, “It is especially significant that Busan has achieved the world’s first commercialization technology development that can create future market demand, transforming the Busan footwear industry ecosystem into a virtuous cycle of sustainable growth.” He also said, “We will continue to strive to ensure that the technological competitiveness of Busan footwear companies leads to job creation, increased sales, and revitalization of the local economy.”

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