Early in 2021, an innovative technology conference centered around the global midsole technology of sports shoes with the theme of "Creating the Future with Motion" was broadcasted live to the world. Chinese sports brand ANTA has released its latest midsole technology - Nitroedge. ANTA, celebrating its 30th anniversary, adds a vivid touch to its brand image that emphasizes research and innovation.

Traditional sports shoe soles are chemically foamed using high-risk chemicals such as ADCA (azodicarbonamide). These chemicals will ultimately have widespread and long-term impacts when they are discharged into the environment. During the ADCA foaming process, NH3, CO, CO2, and N2 are generated. The CO and CO2 produced are greenhouse gases. The NH3 and CO remaining in the material pores are harmful to the human body. The wastewater generated during the production process also contains high concentrated ammonia nitrogen, posing challenges for subsequent discharge in compliance. During the foaming process, several other chemical reagents are also used, such as crosslinking agents, hardeners, fillers, accelerators, lubricants, etc., which can increase environmental pollution. How to replace it with safe foaming technology has always been an important topics for many enterprises of social responsibility.

The physical supercritical foaming technology used by ANTA has permanently solved this problem. This technology uses nitrogen separated from the atmosphere as a foaming agent, without the need for a series of high-risk chemicals used in traditional foaming processes, fundamentally avoiding the possibility of these chemicals entering the environment and causing harm to humans and other organisms.

The limited application of nitrogen technology in the past was due to high production costs and low efficiency. Most brands use physical foaming technology, which can be applied to a few products without any problems, but once mass produced, uncontrollable factors may arise. To this end, ANTA has spent three years developing a stable and controllable nitrogen foaming technology. On the one hand, it has tackled the problem of mass production equipment and efficiency, and on the other hand, it has reduced production costs by about 50%, including labor costs. This has enabled ANTA to achieve the goal of nitrogen technology mass production and benefit consumers. In fact, ANTA has announced plans to scale up the use of nitrogen technology in 75% of its sports shoe products by 2025. As the consumer base continues to expand and the proportion of products increases, it is expected to continue reducing related environmental impacts and take a step forward towards the vision of zero emissions.

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