Polyurethane heels: pros and cons

2024 Author: Priscilla Miln | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 00:21

Any shoe wears out over time - sometimes it's worth throwing it away, but sometimes it's enough just to change the heels. And a pair of great shoes or boots are ready to take their place in the ranks again.

Heels in any workshop will change pretty quickly. In this case, most often shoemakers put polyurethane heels and only sometimes metal or made of durable, thick rubber. But how strong, comfortable and durable is this material?

Polyurethane material properties

Polyurethane is a unique synthetic polymer. It was first obtained in 1937, and already in 1944, the production of polyurethane on an industrial scale was launched. The main component for its production is crude oil, from which isocyanate and polyol are first obtained. Then they are mixed in a liquid state in the presence of excipients and converted into polyurethane. Depending on the specific formulation, liquid, soft or solid polyurethanes can be obtained. This makes this product versatile, suitable for any need, including for the manufacture of heels.

Pros of polyurethane heels

Allworld leaders in the shoe market use polyurethane. It is used as a sole material, and shoes or whole boots can also be made from it. And even if the shoes are made of genuine leather or suede, then polyurethane heels are still put on it. The main advantages of the material are as follows:

• high wear resistance - low percentage of abrasion in contact with the surface;
• great resistance to bending;
• softness and elasticity compared to metal heels;
• lightening the weight of shoes;
• good thermal insulation;
• excellent moisture insulation;
• low electrical conductivity, which allows this material to be used for the production of work boots for various types of industries.

Based on these characteristics, we can conclude that polyurethane heels will last a long time and significantly extend the life of a pair of shoes.

Cons

Many people complain that heels made from this beautiful material fall apart within one week. And sometimes in 1-2 days. What's the matter?

This does not mean that PU heels are bad or poor quality. Of course, in terms of wear resistance and strength, they are inferior to eternal metal linings. But polyurethane heels are not as loud and do not leave holes and scratches on relatively soft floor coverings (wood, cork, laminate, etc.).

They quickly fail because unscrupulous shoemakers insteadpolyurethane put heels of solid shoe rubber. And she just has a tendency to paint in a matter of days.

Resource

It depends on the material and type of heel. On stilettos, overlays wear out quite quickly - from 2 weeks to a couple of months - due to high loads on a small area, while on massive large heels they will last a very long time.

With a medium-sized heel, a domestically produced polyurethane heel will serve the solid season, that is, winter / autumn or summer / spring. Imported analogues usually have a resource 2-3 times higher.

Price

Polyurethane at the production stage is very plastic, which allows you to create heels of any shape and size. Also on sale are products of different colors. If nowhere you can find heels that are suitable in color or shape, then sheet polyurethane will come to the rescue. Every good shoemaker has not only a large assortment of overlays of different colors and shapes, but also sheet material for cutting, for non-standard products.

Product prices depend on many factors, but the approximate spread is as follows:

• Polyurethane heels with Sekunda pin - 175-385 rubles
• Heels molded from Russian-made polyurethane, medium size – 60-70 rubles
• Collection polyurethane heel pins, 7 mm – 35 RUB
• Inexpensive domestic-made heels on a pin in 10 different sizes - 10-15 rubles. for a couple.

So the cost may differ by an order of magnitude, independing on the manufacturer and product characteristics.