What is BS 5131-6.1 – Footwear material testing about?
BS 5131-6.1 is an international standard that focuses on best practices for testing for footwear and footwear material. It gives a code of practice for the comparative evaluation by wear trial of materials, components, or constructions.
BS 5131-6.1 makes recommendations to assist manufacturers and distributors in carrying out the wear trial evaluation of new making processes, materials, components, constructional and design features, styles, etc., by comparing their performance in wear directly with similar footwear of known or established performance.
BS 5131-6.1 defines the comparative trial of new versus established footwear, either concurrently within the same pair of footwear or consecutively between pairs under similar conditions of use.
Who is BS 5131-6.1 - Footwear material testing for?
BS 5131-6.1 on a code of practice for the comparative evaluation by wear trial of materials, components, or constructions is useful for:
- Footwear manufacturing companies
- Footwear design engineers 
- Retailers of footwear
- Testing laboratories 
- Regulatory authorities
- Product development teams
Why should you use BS 5131-6.1 - Footwear materials testing?
Footwear comfort is a widely promoted attribute in marketing footwear and can be applicable across a wide range of footwear categories. Comfort is a key influence in achieving customer satisfaction and can be an important factor in brand loyalty.
BS 5131-6.1 has been prepared under the direction of the Clothing Standards Committee at the request of representatives of consumer bodies, retailers, and the footwear industry. They had an object of regularizing procedures for those wear trials of footwear designed to evaluate new making processes, materials and components, design and constructional features, styles, etc., by direct comparison with footwear of an established performance.
BS 5131-6.1 helps users to evaluate a new upper or soling material, to relate wear performance and characteristics to laboratory testing results, and to determine the effect of a change of component or other process variation.
BS 5131-6.1 gives you elaborated information about the apparatus used and materials required to perform the test, explains the principle of the test methods, as well as helps the users with the sampling and conditioning to conclude the final test report.
Using BS 5131-6.1 guidelines, you would be able to determine the code of practice for the comparative evaluation by wearing a trial of materials, components, or constructions.
