Made In USA Products Shipped Overseas, Only to Return to U.S. Shores; Materials, and Molding All Bring ‘Balance’ to Users, Trade

McHENRY, Ill. (April 11, 2007) -- A relationship between three U.S. companies is testimony that a ‘Made in USA’ product can be successful and profitable. Added to this is an ironic and encouraging twist. After it is exported from North America to Asia, the patented product is returned inside of a high heel shoe to either the United States or to Europe for sale. All companies involved proudly claim this is a profitable venture and a sign that American firms can be competitive, and profitable, in world markets.

The saga began with a quest by podiatrist, Dr. Howard Dananberg, to find a solution to a decades-old problem – relieving discomfort and physical problems associated with what he calls ‘torture chambers’ to the feet – namely women’s high heel shoes.

Dananberg is credited with the invention of the patented Insolia® brand of weight shift products. The Insolia® Insole Supplement features advanced proprietary grades of clear thermoplastic elastomers and thermoplastic elastomer alloys (TPEs) from GLS Corp. The product is molded and sold to shoe manufacturers by HBN Shoe LLC, Salem, N.H., where Dananberg is the founder and chief technology officer. The brand and product is licensed to shoe brands and retailers worldwide and enables their manufacturers to incorporate the product into shoes during the manufacturing process. The Insolia product can be found in many of the world’s most popular brands and retailers, among them DKNY in the United States, Marks & Spencer in the United Kingdom, and numerous brands sold throughout Asia and Europe.

Even Bigger Plastics Industry Story
The bigger story in plastics and manufacturing circles is how HBN can be highly competitive in world markets, without feeling forced to outsource overseas. For one, the raw materials are from U.S. sources and the finished Insolia product is molded right here in North America, in a plant in Texas. HBN, the developer of the Insolia product, GLS Corp., the materials provider and BeeJay Molding, an injection molding company, have departed from trends where a growing number of other North American products and companies use nearly all foreign resources. Added to this is a novel twist in international trade and commerce: the Insolia product is manufactured in the United States, then shipped to shoe factories in Asia and Europe where the product is built into some of the world’s most popular and stylish high heel shoes, and then the finished shoes are shipped back to the United States or to Europe and countries throughout Asia, for sale.

Going Back
The Insolia product, according to company sources, fundamentally changes the comfort and appeal of high heel shoes. The product, thanks to soft, resilient and proprietary grades of TPEs from GLS Corp., shifts the weight of the wearer off the ball of the foot back to the heel, making the shoe feel, reported in HBN company studies, as comfortable as wearing a lower heel shoe.

The weight shift produced by the Insolia product improves body alignment and balance, dramatically reducing leg and lower back fatigue while reducing pressure on the ball of the foot. Benefits also include enhanced ankle stability, decreased forefoot pressure and use in any type of high heel 1 inch (40mm) or higher, regardless of style, such as pumps, sandals, sling backs, wedges and more.

“With more than 800 million pairs of high heel shoes sold globally every year, the design and choice of high heel shoes for women have been questioned over the years as a foot health hazard,” cites inventor Dananberg. “Studies have shown that shifting weight to the heel is the only optimum way to reduce pressure and prevent pain. At the same time, we realized that padding and cushioning do not reduce pressure – rather, they only mask the pressure and pain briefly.”

The TPE Story
But the materials solution wasn’t a simple one.

With Dananberg, Brian Hughes, the HBN chairman and vice president of engineering, soon realized that foams, silicone gels and other materials were unsuitable for their requirements. As a result they sought a different materials solution. They found it from GLS Corp., a leading TPE compounder for specialized industrial and consumer product applications.

“The criteria for the ideal product,” said Hughes, “was a combination of materials, geometry, clarity, a degree of softness and hardness, good mechanical properties, excellent bonding characteristics and good moldability.”

The TPE product ultimately chosen was a proprietary grade of GLS Dynaflex® TPE compounds that use Kraton materials. The Insolia product is molded at BeeJay Molding injection molding facilities in Boerne, Texas.

According to Michael Backler, HBN president, “With this combination of materials, materials suppliers and molding operations, we quickly determined that it was cheaper to mold and manufacture the Insolia product here in the United States then it would be in Asia or anywhere else.”

About GLS Corp.
GLS Corp. is a global leader in the development, manufacture, and supply of high-performance, custom formulated thermoplastic elastomers (TPEs). The company was founded in 1979 and is widely recognized as an innovator of breakthrough, soft TPE solutions, and for its exemplary service to many of the world’s top multinational companies. Custom formulated TPEs from GLS are the materials of choice for a broad and growing range of demanding applications in the consumer, medical, packaging, transportation, electronics, and industrial markets.