Kangaroo leather technology that knows no bounds
In an apparent opposite to what one might expect, a new material that combines kangaroo leather and rubber has resulted in a football boot is not springier than its conventional counterpart, but actually stickier.
Using a material known as Rubberised Kangaroo Technology (RKT) footwear developers working at the UK sports brand Umbro have overcome the traditional objection to using kangaroo leather for football boots, which is its smoothness.
By combining kangaroo hide with a special rubberised compound they have come up with a material that preserves all the softness and comfort for which kangaroo hide is renowned, but which also possesses a far higher slip resistance index. As a measure of the amount of friction placed on the ball during the moment of kicking, the slip resistance index is critical to determining the levels of ball control the player is able to exercise, making the material a highly significant breakthrough, Umbro claims.
