News > Perfect balance between safety and wearing comfort

Major ministries of defence – including the French army– have been wearing Bata Industrials ‘foot-gear’ for years now, a collection consisting of safety shoes and matching socks. Our footwear is also frequently worn by various fire brigades and police forces (including the Metropolitan Police of London) and other uniformed services. For years now, they have chosen the footwear from Bata Industrials due to the perfect balance between protection and wearing comfort. Both under normal as well as extreme conditions. Innovative Comfort and safety - all in one shoe. Sounds about as likely as water and fire. Just think: designing a shoe that is waterproof and breathable requires some ingenious brainwork. Member of the NIID (www.niid.nl) since 2005, Bata Industrials has a substantial R&D department that tackles the applications and behaviours of various materials on a daily basis. All to create shoes that are even safer, more comfortable, and fit better. This is where we unleash the latest technological innovations on lightweight materials, both natural products as well as a variety of synthetics. We are also the only company in the Netherlands with a licence for the well-known GORE-TEX material which is also available in a ‘cold-wet weather’ version. Defence industry Our development and production processes are based on over 100 years of experience as the largest shoe manufacturer in the world. For a considerable portion of that period, we were affiliated with the defence industry. Since the 1970s, we have been specialised in the development and production of safety shoes for military personnel. Among other things, this led to the development of the M90 combat boot for the Dutch armed forces in the mid-1980s. Weight, stability, grip and ‘climate’ Currently, we develop a special version of the successor to the M90 boots, together with various security forces: the Sentinel M900 combat boots. Once again, in developing this boot, we conducted an extensive search to find the right balance between weight, stability, grip and climate control. After all, the last thing members of the armed forces and relief workers want to have to think about while in action is their footwear! Naturally this also goes for the other sectors which have found their way to Bata, such as construction and industry. Modern production lines Thanks to our brand-new production line in Best, we are able to be flexible in our response to any order quantity in any desired size, from 35 through 49. Some of our collections are even available in four different widths. Additionally, with the French company Marbot, we now have access to a production facility that supplies some 200,000 Brodequin combat boots to the French army on an annual basis. Socks In addition to safety shoes, we also manufacture socks - after all, these are inextricably linked to shoes. The wrong sock can actually reverse the comfort of a safety shoe. The Bata socks are made from special yarns which keep feet dry, cool and odour-free. And of course, this last feature does more than just the wearer a favour…….