Biomechanical Effects of Men\u27s Dress Shoes Made with Eco-Friendly Materials

The purpose of this study was to evaluate wearers\u27 performance in men\u27s leather shoes comparing with sustainable shoes using an experimental research design. It was hypothesized that there were no differences in kinetic and kinematic parameters of gait within lower extremity of participants wearing the leather shoes and sustainable shoes while performing the following three conditions: walking on flat ground, ascending, and descending stairs. A total of 37 human subjects were used for the data analyses. For kinetics, no statistically significant mean differences between the two shoes during descending stairs was identified. For kinematics, no statistically significant differences for peak angles of hips, knees, and ankles were found between the two shoes during ascending and descending stairs. The findings of this study confirm the possibility for multi-layered cellulosic material to use as an alternative leather when making sustainable men’s dress shoes in terms of kinematics and kinetics

Multi-layered Cellulosic Material as a Leather Alternate in the Footwear Industry

We aimed to develop a biodegradable and compostable material that could be used as a leather alternate for the footwear industry, which leads to reduce the negative impact of this industry to the environment. This experimental study was conducted to develop a multi-layered cellulosic material (cellulosic fiber mat + denim + hemp) and examine its material properties – thermal comfort, air permeability, tensile strength, and wettability – compared with those of two-layered leather (calf skin + pig skin) often used when making shoes. We hypothesized that these two materials would have similar properties. This study presented the effectiveness of a multi-layered cellulosic material to be used as a leather alternate when developing shoes. The results also provided a better understanding of the influence of a multi-layered cellulosic material on the wearers\u27 thermal comfort. Further research is suggested identifying solutions to reduce water absorbency of this multi-layered cellulosic material

RETHINK II: Kombucha Shoes for Scarlett and Rhett

We challenged ourselves to rethink what constitutes sustainable consumer products in a world of increasingly stressed natural resources. We explored the innovative way to develop renewable materials, leather-like nonwoven fabrics, which can be used for apparel and footwear products for the betterment of people and the planet. The cellulose fiber mats formed by bacteria and yeast in fermenting green tea can be produced without any synthetic process or chemical materials. Our kombucha shoes can be an alternate future where we move to a cradle-to-cradle system, instead of relying on materials derived from unsustainable sources. The outcome of our innovative design efforts is presented by creating aesthetically pleasing, biodegradable shoes for Scarlett and Rhett, leading characters from Gone with the Wind, one of the most famous American fiction bestsellers published in the 1930s. RETHINK II design provides a promising future of this biodegradable material as an alternate future suitable for footwear

RETHINK III: Bio-Shoes in Urban Campus Life

Inspired by the concept of “sustainability†and based on our previous shoe design made of a green tea-based biodegradable cellulose fiber mat as a leather alternative material, we further challenged ourselves to implement cradle-to-cradle design approach into the shoe design process. We especially focused on sustainable material selection for different layers of the shoe structure and simple shoe pattern development using a zero waste approach. Our bio-shoes also considered much attention to wearers\u27 functional and aesthetic desires. We chose a contemporary look for the bio-shoes, which can complement current college male students\u27 desires and needs in their urban campus life

Wearers\u27 Perceptions and Acceptance of Shoes Made with Eco-Friendly Materials

The purpose of this study was to assess wearers\u27 perceptions and acceptance of sustainable shoes, comparing with commercial leather shoes. A total of 42 male subjects were participated in this experimental study and their responses were used for data analyses. A paired t-test was performed to examine whether there were significant mean differences between the sustainable shoes and leather shoes, in the following five dimensions: function, expression, aesthetics, mobility related with physical fit and comfort during wear trials, and wearers\u27 acceptance. The findings demonstrated that the men\u27s shoes made with the eco-layer material configuration, which can be a leather substitute, have the potential to attract young male consumers in the future. However, the sustainable shoes in this study still remained a lack of mobility related to fit and comfort. Suggestions for future research to enhance the mobility of sustainable shoes for providing better fit and comfort of wearers are discussed

Exploring Sustainability Attributes of Perception among Different Consumer Groups for Green Sportswear

This study aims to explore consumers\u27 perceptions for the use of green sportswear, by examining the role of 11 sustainability attribute of perception among different consumer groups (G1 non-green product users, G2 general green product users, G3 green sportswear users). An online survey was conducted with a nationwide convenience sample of U.S. consumers and a total of 542 usable responses were used for data analyses. The results of this study provide practical implications for green sportswear providers to focus more on product tangibility (e.g., eco-label) as well as product reliability (e.g., functional performance, durability) when developing new green apparel products. Green sportswear manufacturers need to educate non-green product consumers for the sustainability practices apparel companies perform in a visible way. Further research is suggested to examine differences in sustainability attributes of perception among the variety of green products and their relationships with demographic variables

Factors Influencing Consumers\u27 Purchase Intention of Green Activewear

The purpose of this study was to examine key factors that influence consumers’ purchase intention of green activewear using the modified theory of planned behavior (Ajzen, 1991)

Tau functions as Widom constants

We define a tau function for a generic Riemann-Hilbert problem posed on a union of non-intersecting smooth closed curves with jump matrices analytic in their neighborhood. The tau function depends on parameters of the jumps and is expressed as the Fredholm determinant of an integral operator with block integrable kernel constructed in terms of elementary parametrices. Its logarithmic derivatives with respect to parameters are given by contour integrals involving these parametrices and the solution of the Riemann-Hilbert problem. In the case of one circle, the tau function coincides with Widom's determinant arising in the asymptotics of block Toeplitz matrices. Our construction gives the Jimbo-Miwa-Ueno tau function for Riemann-Hilbert problems of isomonodromic origin (Painlev\'e VI, V, III, Garnier system, etc) and the Sato-Segal-Wilson tau function for integrable hierarchies such as Gelfand-Dickey and Drinfeld-Sokolov.Comment: 26 pages, 6 figure