The next generation of performance footwear is here – courtesy of Montreal-based norda™, with a little help from Dyneema®!
Let’s rewind to 2021, and the launch of norda™’s 001 trail running shoe. The seamless upper is made with Dyneema® fabric constructed from bio-based Dyneema® fiber, for a high-quality, low-carbon-footprint footwear solution. The norda™ innovation fuses the technical performance of our ultra-light material with an aesthetically appealing design, without sacrificing strength or durability. That’s because, in addition to ensuring increased foot stability and wearer comfort, the Dyneema® fabric was chosen to increase abrasion resistance and stretch in the shoelaces, providing four times the strength of standard shoelace materials like nylon and polyester.
Better footwear with a better footprint
According to Willamina and Nick Martire, CEOs and co-founders of norda™, their mission was to design an ultra-strong, durable, high-performance trail running shoe as sustainably as possible: “To achieve our goal, we had to look beyond the standard materials used by the footwear industry. We realized the properties of bio-based Dyneema® fiber beat everything available today.”
They weren’t wrong: bio-based Dyneema® fiber boasts the same exact performance as conventional Dyneema®, but with a carbon footprint 90% lower than that of generic HMPE. Fed with renewable, bio-based feedstock, our fiber technology uses the mass balance approach to further reduce reliance on fossil resources while contributing to a more circular economy.
Footwear that delivers in more ways than one
The 002 edition of the shoe delivers even more durability, thanks to its ripstop-style fabric, as well as a hyper-responsive experience for runners – but the sustainability credentials (and, of course, the Dyneema® fabric) remain just as strong as ever. The ongoing partnership between Dyneema® and norda™ continues to break boundaries in the development of trail running footwear, proving that performance and sustainability should always run together!
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