Versarien plc (AIM: VRS), the advanced materials engineering group, this morning told DirectorsTalk that it has signed an agreement with shoemaker Vivobarefoot Ltd, to collaborate on developing a range of footwear that incorporates graphene into existing resins and fibres in order to enhance material performance.
Vivobarefoot, headquartered in the UK, manufactures and sells a full range of innovative, “minimalist”, shoes from hiking and running shoes, to those for everyday use. Vivobarefoot is the world’s leading maker of minimalist shoes and is majority owned and run by Galahad and Asher Clark, with a leading Taiwanese shoe manufacturer, Stella International, owning a minority stake.
Utilising Versarien’s proprietary Nanene few layer graphene nano-platelets, the collaboration will involve the incorporation of graphene into existing resins and fibres, with the aim of enhancing puncture resistance and improving mechanical strength, wear resistance and thermal conductivity.
Asher Clark, Vivobarefoot Design Director, commented: “To innovate at Vivobarefoot is to put as little shoe as possible between your feet and the ground. We are very excited to partner with Versarian in order to take that goal to a new level and redefine some extraordinary new benchmarks in performance, durability and sustainability in modern shoemaking.”
Neill Ricketts, CEO of Versarien, commented: “We are delighted to have signed our latest collaboration and we look forward to working with Vivobarefoot to enhance their already innovative ranges of footwear.
“It is very pleasing to be working with companies such as Vivobarefoot to get new and innovative graphene enhanced products to market. The signing of this collaboration further illustrates the wide-ranging applications for our high quality graphene. We have now entered into formal collaborations covering areas as diverse as aerospace, clothing, packaging and medical technology and we continue to see considerable interest globally from other groups wishing to work with Versarien.
“Using both new and existing ways of exploiting the properties of graphene in various materials is enabling us to simultaneously work in multiple verticals, with minimum impact to other projects, maximising and de-risking the potential commercial opportunity.”
