Standards for elderly’s shoes are a perfect fit

THE Yangtze River Delta Consumer Council Federation released the nation’s first standards on shoes for the elderly yesterday to ensure older consumers can have good-quality, comfortable and safe footwear.

The standards cover factors like folding endurance, abrasion resistance, comfort level and skid resistance.

As the number of elderly people increases, more products are entering the market which target such consumers, among them shoes. The federation, which consists of consumer councils in Shanghai and Zhejiang, Jiangsu and Anhui provinces, tested 80 pairs of shoes of many brands.

It bought 54 pairs from ecommerce platforms, 16 pairs from physical stores and 10 from TV shopping programs. Prices ranged from 49 yuan (US$6.88) to 439 yuan.

The tests revealed that shoes made for the elderly had better skid resistance and were lighter than ordinary shoes.

However, 14 samples came unglued or had cracks after folding tests. In abrasion resistance tests, eight samples failed to reach the standard claimed by their manufacturers.

Hardness tests showed that 16 samples were too soft while another 12 were too hard. Sixteen samples were found to have a poor ability to spring back after bending.

Three samples didn’t have enough color fastness with their color easy to fade or run.

Since there were previously no standards on shoes for elderly people, the standards most manufacturers used were those of sneakers and casual shoes.

The federation entrusted the city’s leather technology association to set standards. The association organized a team of professionals in March and collected 63 suggestions from 15 organizations to modify its draft. So far, 50 shoemakers in Shanghai and eight provinces have promised to adhere to these standards.