Essentially Rubber: Trinseo steps up fashion game with clear soles

Leading-edge designs and applications showing how elastomer materials contribute to all aspects of life and lifestyle in the 21st century:

Trinseo has launched a new transparent thermoplastic elastomer (TPE) grade for footwear applications. The Apilon 52 XB-75A Cristallo is Trinseo’s first ester-based transparent thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU), and is part of the company’s portfolio of solutions for fashion & footwear. The material can be used as transparent outsoles and shoe parts, offering “excellent processability and fast cycle times” using injection moulding technology. The TPU grade is claimed to be durable, have colour consistency and offer “superior mechanical performance when compared to more traditional ether-based TPU”.