Fitting & Comfort of Footwear

Use SATRA's fitting and comfort services to:

Ensure lasts are targeted to population needs
Ensure your footwear fits the target market
Identify fitting problems before sale
Enhance comfort and increase sales

SATRA's footwear fitting and comfort services are only available to members.

Lasts and fitting services

Based on more than 80 years research on the relationship between feet and footwear, SATRA can:

Assess the dimensions and suitability of lasts for their intended market
Undertake fitting trials on new ranges of footwear
Develop products to fit specific population segments
Develop fitting aids
Undertake dimensional surveys of feet
Advise on sizing systems and conversions

Comfort services

Comfortable footwear generates brand loyalty and encourages repeat sales. Although comfort is dependent on a complex range of factors and is highly subjective, SATRA provides a range of services to quantify the comfort of products and assess how specific materials and constructions enhance comfort.

SATRA's unique Comfort Index provides a meaningful way of quantifying the comfort of footwear under controlled laboratory conditions such that a number can be assigned to define the overall level of comfort of a shoe. The index also highlights which aspects of comfort add to or detract from the overall comfort.

A variety of tools help to assess comfort:

Pressure mapping for underfoot Comfort
Thermography to monitor heat build up
Sweating foot to assess thermo-physiological properties
Environmental chamber to determine properties under extremes of temperature (from minus 40 to + 40°C) and humidity.
Tests for specific attributes of comfort including footwear flexibility, ground insulation, shock absorption and thermal insulation.

Training courses

SATRA can provide training courses for member companies in all aspects of fitting and comfort assessment. We will train technologists to carry out fitting trials on new footwear ranges and to undertake the SATRA comfort Index assessment. We can also train retail staff to fit footwear.

SATRA member companies can apply for Fitting and Comfort Certification. This ensures that relevant staff are competent to carry out fitting trials and comfort assessments.

See Quality Certification Systems

Contact

For further information contact Mike Wilson:

e-mail: mikew@satra.co.uk