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Assessing the hardness of footwear components

Hardness quantifies the stiffness of rubbers, plastics, polyurethanes, elastomers and foams used in footwear, as this article explains.

In shoe solings, hardness is very important because it largely determines the ease of flexing and underfoot comfort. Softer (lower hardness) materials are easier to flex and compress, but are not necessarily always more comfortable.

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