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Ion-Mask: The Complete Guide

In 2008 Hi-Tec launched the world's first nano-technology enhanced footwear, via the ion-mask water management technology.

The process

The ion-mask process is a 3 minute revoulution.

It is a post production process meaning that the finished, assembled, shoe is treated. There is no additional stitching or layers of materials required.

The benefits of the ion-mask process are numerous and represent a quantum leap in how your footwear reacts around water.

1. Vacuum
One the shoes are loaded into the machine the air is evacuated to produce a vacuum.

2. Plasma Engaged
After approximately 30 seconds a plasma is then engaged. This primes the surface of the shoes/boots making them ready for the chemical to be added.

3. Repellant added
Once primed, a flurocarbon is then added to the machine.
This is the chemically bonded to impregnate every fiber of the shoe/boot.
The enhancement is at a nano-scale and is approximately 10 nano-metres thick.
Roughly equivalent to 1000 times thinner than the human hair.

4. Boots Removed
After approximately 3 minutes the air is returned to the chamber and the door openbs once the pressure has been restored.
The shoes/boots can then be removed and are fully treated.

Waterproof

ion-mask technology can treat any footwear, however the design and material in each shoe influence the benefits provided.
To help distinguish these benefits Hi-Tec ion-mask product therefore falls into two categories:

Ion-Mask Waterproof referred to as WPi
Hydrophobic reffered to as HPi

What is Wpi?
All products featuring this description are waterproof & hydrophobic.

Typical categories would be hiking boots traditionally designed to prevent water ingress.

ion-mask enhances the surface of materials of the item treated.

Therefore to ensure that WPi shoes are truly waterproof, only materials that will maximise the benefits of the ion-mask process are selected. Leather for example has:

• a natural resistance to water
• a very dense structure
• so even under pressure the water will not penetrate

Benefits Explained

Waterproof

The plasma process enables polymers to infuse to the shoes/boots on a sub-microscopic scale. This means that every single fibre is given a layer of water repellent polymer only molecules thick.

Ion-mask works by enhancing the materials themselves and with particularly dense materials such as leather it is possible to engineer a waterproof product.

Hydrophobic

Furthermore the ion-mask process means the fibres on even open weave materials becomes repellent making the shoe much less absorbent.

By enhancing the fibres themselves the shoe itself becomes protective and leads to a number of additional benefits.

This is what makes ion-mask truly Hydro Management Nano Technology.

Breathable

Enhancing every fibre not just the outer layer, means the entire shoe is treated. Moreover if a membrane booty construction is not then used the shoe is as breathable before the process as after.

Lightweight

The shoe is also lighter, approx 35 grams for mid-cut UK8, than with a membrane. Infact, unlike a membrane construction, the treated shoe will gain less weight when used in wet conditions as the material retains less water.

Stay Cleaner

ion-mask footwear also helps to keep footwear clean longer, like water the treatment also helps to repel dirt to deduce staining.

The low surface energy (three times less than Teflon) prevents dirt and mud build up. Whilst mud will still lodge between mesh materials, more sense materials remain cleaner for longer.