Umbro Football Shoes Are 99% Vinyl – A Winning Composition

SAO PAULO, Brazil, Oct. 8, 2008 (VNS) – More sports gear, for both men and women, Olympic athletes and casual sports enthusiasts, is being made of vinyl these days, specifically in the manufacture of footwear.   

One of the advantages of vinyl footwear in relation to other raw materials is that the material gives greater protection and comfort to the user.  Adriano Lopes, Products Manager at Umbro Brasil, stated, "All footwear lines by Umbro uses 99 percent of vinyl in their composition."  

Umbro manufactures football, or soccer, shoes for both males and females of all ages.  Lopes noted, "With a low cost, vinyl gives us a better price margin and therefore we may offer a product which is more accessible to the consumer."   

The sportswear company was founded in 1920 in the United Kingdom as Humphrey Brothers Clothing.  In 1924, the company changed its name to Umbro, a contraction of Humphrey Brothers. Its sports related apparel, footwear, and equipment are sold in over 90 countries worldwide.   

In 1985 in Brazil, Umbro introduced its first football boot, which went into production two years later.  In addition to its domestic market, Umbro Brasil exports about 20 percent of its production of vinyl shoes to countries in Latin America, such as Argentina, Paraguay, and Uruguay.

Key markets for Umbro include the United States, United Kingdom, Spain, France, Germany, China, and Japan, as well as Brazil.  Umbro Brasil anticipates a 14 percent increase in revenue in 2008 over last year, and its footwear line is amongst the highest selling products.   

Miguel Bahiense Neto, the Executive Director at the Instituto do PVC, said, "Since [vinyl] is a material that ensures comfort, lightness, and flexibility and because it is resistant, the demand for it is becoming constant among the brands.  Another important characteristic is that vinyl is 100 percent recyclable."  

For more information on this story, click here.   

The Vinyl Institute represents the leading manufacturers involved in the production of PVC vinyl in the United States, and promotes the value of PVC and vinyl products to society.   

For more information, contact:
Jeffrey B. Palmer
Director of Marketing & Communications
The Vinyl Institute
(703) 741-5669
jeff_palmer@plastics.org   

Also go to:  www.vinylindesign.com, and www.vinylinfo.org.