Thermoplastic elastomer high heel insole provides soft gel comfort.

This company has partnered with Thany & Brown, LLC, to create a line of high heel shoe inserts marketed under the PepnStep trademark. This insole is said to be the only one available that extends the full length of the foot. The insole is very thin and fits unobtrusively into the shoe, according to the companies. The very soft thermoplastic elastomer (TPE) insole is said to provide cushioning and relief in the part of the foot that needs the most support when wearing a high heel, the ball of the foot and toe areas.

This TPE developer recently created products that were so soft that they register as durometer 00, because they are nearly liquid. Offering benefits like water clearness, gel-like softness with a warm tactile feel with high elongation characteristics, the Versaflex CL2003X grade materials are known for being the base material for such products as shoes, inserts, bike saddles, furniture padding and ergonomic grips. With a 30 durometer 00 value, the Versaflex material offered the gellike properties that the PepnStep insole required, and did it in a thickness that met the need for a low volume shoe, according to the company.

Because the Versaflex material is clear, the insoles could be molded in a nearly invisible way, so only the most astute observer could detect that there was anything different in a pair of heels that had the insoles in them, according to the manufacturer. Most importantly, the CL2003 did not deflate under load, staying springy, soft and cushioning long after competing silicone products had given out, even at just 1.8" in width, according to the company.

This company supplies elastomeric raw materials, as well as application-specific, custom TPE compounds. Other products offered include Softfx hard engineering resin/soft TPE overmold combinations, Versollan specialty rubberized TPU alloys, Kraton thermoplastic rubber compounds, Dynaflex TPE compounds, Versaflex TPE alloys and Versalloy elastomer alloys.

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