Marketplace revealed that 5 out of 6 boots failed the slip-test on ice after volunteer tries all of them in a weather-controlled elevated space.
- Famous producers of winter shoes in Canada left red-faced after an inquiry finds their inefficiency.
- KITE’s biomedical engineers conducted the shoe-slip investigation in Canada.
- The maximum achievable level of elevation was kept between 0 to 15 degrees in the winter shoe test.

Winter boots geared up with fiber-embedded soles can be the solution to fewer slips and falls on the ice this wintry weather, Marketplace research has located.
Marketplace checked out famous manufacturers on the market in Canada — Merrell, Sorel, Kamik, Ugg, Timberland, and WindRiver — to peer how a number of those companies’ iciness boots could fare on a wet, icy floor.
The research of the boots decided on via way of means of Marketplace located that the WindRiver Backwoods Waterproof Hyper Dri three trekking boots, which consist of embedded fibers in the only for added traction, had the excellent grip on a wet, icy floor as compared to the boots with outsoles made of various materials. WindRiver is a brand owned by Mark’s (formerly Mark’s Work Wearhouse).
Marketplace went to the KITE Research Institute in Toronto, that’s a part of the University Health Network’s Rehabilitation Institute, wherein biomedical engineers performed a shoe slip take a look at assessing the Maximum Achievable Angle (MAA) for every pair of boots. An MMA is the best degree of elevation at which a boot may be worn earlier than slipping at the ice.
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Marketplace selected boot models that had been warm and precise for strolling and primarily based totally on suggestions from the customer support body of workers from every company.
While carrying each of the boots, a volunteer walked up and down an ice-blanketed ground in a chamber wherein hydraulics modified the perspective from 0 to fifteen degrees of elevation. To make certain most the safety, the volunteer became strapped right into a harness connected to the ceiling of the climate-controlled room. Guidewires had been at his facets and a bed became installed at the downhill slope to cushion any slips.
The perspective of the ground became incrementally accelerated till the boot treads misplaced traction at the ice.