FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Innovation
in Non-Slip Silicone Sports Glove Manufacturing
New
Benefits at a Lower Production Cost for Sports Glove Brands
Hsinchu,
Taiwan, January 28 2021 - Experienced silicone product
maker, General Silicones (GS), shares how its Compo-SiL® technology
allows for innovation in sporting glove design.
Thanks to athletes' incredible feats, the benefits of silicone rubber-based "sticky" sporting
gloves received coverage by major news outlets. The increased
occurrence of single-handed catches in American football even led The
New York Times to request the MIT Sports Lab to study silicone football
gloves stickiness.
Non-Slip
Silicone Sports Gloves Benefit Many Sports
The controversy around the apparent benefit of silicone sports gloves'
firm grip is just an illustration of the material's inherent strength.
There are many other sports where a secure grip offers essential
benefits. Team sports like baseball, hockey need a solid hold of the
bat and stick, gym user need a sturdy grip for their weightlifting
routines. Outdoor sports like fishing, cycling, and sailing benefit
from the firm hold of silicone gloves and the material's resistance to
water and UV damage.
Limitations
of Liquid Silicone Rubber for Textile Manufacturing
Companies sourcing a reliable supplier of sporting gloves are currently
limited by manufacturing technology. Traditional production using
liquid silicone rubber is costly. Liquid silicone application is hard
to control for the manufacturer. Production costs rise significantly
when high quality is required, making the final product too costly for
the mainstream market.
Compo-SiL®
for the Best Sport Glove Manufacturers
General Silicones innovates mass production with silicone rubber with
the introduction of Compo-SiL®
technology. GS creates and ships
Compo-SiL®
silicone rubber sheets with a thin layer made of modified
polyurethane (PU). This modification allows for applying silicone
rubber to gloves through standard roll-to-roll and heat press
treatment. Using established adhesives like PUR and HMA, the glove
textile adheres to the PU layer of Compo-SiL®
. With Compo-SiL®
, GS opens the doors to product innovation and process cost reductions
to glove brands wanting to bring silicone's advantages to their product
lines.
Compo-SiL®'s
PU Layer Allows for Colorful Prints
The high-stress sporting gloves endure quickly damages prints and
insignia. Club imprints soon deteriorate under stress and fade under
the sun. Brands opting for silicone ink prints have restricted design
options due to the limits of silicone ink printing techniques.
Compo-SiL®
, on the other hand, offers complete freedom of creative
design. By enabling the use of standard printing technology on the PU
layer, brands have complete artistic freedom.
Stable
Brand Colors Even During Frequent Use
After applying the printed Compo-SiL®
rubber to the glove base
material, the inward-facing printed PU layer is protected from
mechanical stress, water, and UV radiation by the silicone top layer.
Silicone is well known to protect from UV and environmental damage.
Brands increase their customer satisfaction with gloves that last
longer. Sports and club insignia show their vivid colors for the entire
lifetime of the gloves.
Decrease
Glove Cost by Adding Colors/Shades with Single Print
Traditional Silkscreen printing quickly struggles with colorful designs
and roll-to-roll manufacturing. Each color has to be applied separately
and baked in an oven before using the next color. This process is
time-consuming and costly.
Compo-SiL®
allows direct high-quality digital printing, increasing the production
speed at lower expenses.
Gradient
Color Effects on Sporting Gloves
Gradient color effects are impossible with screen printing. As
Compo-SiL®
allows for digital prints on the PU layer, brands retain
greater artistic freedom.
Three-Dimensional
Metal and Wooden Effects
Creating the look of wood grain or metal surfaces is hard to achieve
with traditional printing methods. Here again, digital printing on the
PU layer of Compo-SiL®
opens new opportunities for expression.
No
Weakening and Glove Fabrics Damage from Baking
Screen printing requires baking of the prints. Each time this adds the
risk of weakening or damaging the structure and properties of the glove
fabric. Baking is not needed to achieve adhesion with Compo-SiL®
silicone rubber. Glove brands reduce quality control concerns and
lessen the risks of product returns.
Vegan
Leather Sporting Gloves
The demand for reducing plastic use is reaching glove brands as well.
Silicone is a sustainable alternative to plastic, reducing the brand
owners' risk of being questioned on product sustainability.
Removing
Brands from MOQ Demands
When sourcing a supplier, the question about MOQ requirements rises
soon. Smaller sports teams and clubs quickly face the rising cost of
traditional printing for small quantities. The conventional application
of liquid silicone rubber is expensive as well. Compo-SiL®
, on the
other hand, allows for cost-friendly small quantity runs due to all the
advantages mentioned above.
Sourcing managers of glove brands and their manufacturers can contact
the sales team of General Silicones at [email protected]
for more information or visit www.compo-sil.com
About
General Silicones
General Silicones (GS) was founded in 1970 in Taipei, Taiwan, and is
now represented worldwide – including Europe, China, Japan, and
South-East Asian countries. GS is a major distributor of silicone
materials and an active silicone products manufacturer with ISO 9001,
IATF 16949, and ISO 14001 certifications. The company has manufacturing
plants in Hsinchu, Taiwan; Wujiang, China; and Bac Giang, Vietnam. With
decades of experience in this field, GS has the ability and capacity to
provide a wide range of silicone products for many industries,
including medical, automobile, consumer products, electronics, and IT.
GS listed on Taiwan's Emerging Stock Market in 2011 (TPEx: 4730). For
more information about GS, please visit www.generalsilicones.com.
For more information on Compo-SiL®,
please visit www.compo-sil.com