Shoe Goo is a brand of

adhesive Adhesive, also known as glue, cement, mucilage, or paste, is any non-metallic substance applied to one or both surfaces of two separate items that binds them together and resists their separation. The use of adhesives offers certain advantage ...

and

sealant Sealant is a substance used to block the passage of fluids through openings in materials, a type of Seal (mechanical), mechanical seal. In building construction ''sealant'' is sometimes synonymous with ''caulk'' (especially if acrylic latex or ...

intended for repairs of

footwear Footwear refers to garments worn on the feet, which typically serve the purpose of protective clothing, protection against adversities of the environment such as wear from rough ground; stability on slippery ground; and temperature. *Shoes and si ...

. Shoe Goo is a specialized type of

rubber cement Rubber cement (cow gum in British English) is an adhesive made from elastic polymers (typically natural rubber, latex) mixed in a solvent such as acetone, hexane, heptane or toluene to keep it fluid enough to be used. This makes it part of the cla ...

that contains a cleaning/degreasing solvent and an abrasion-resistant synthetic rubber. It is a registered trademark of Eclectic Products, based in

Eugene, Oregon Eugene ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Lane County, Oregon, United States. It is located at the southern end of the Willamette Valley, near the confluence of the McKenzie River (Oregon), McKenzie and Willamette River, Willamette rivers, ...

Origins

Shoe Goo was created in part in 1972 by Lyman Van Vliet, a 45-year-old senior executive at Hughes Aircraft Co."A Shoe-repair Product For People On The Run,"
''Inc.'' magazine, September 1, 1982.Sally Koris

''People'' magazine, vol. 18, no. 8 (August 9, 1982). As a frequent tennis player, Van Vliet was dissatisfied with the durability of the soles of his tennis shoes and sought a method to extend their life by repairing them. Although he already held several patents related to the aerospace industry, he had no extensive background in

chemistry Chemistry is the scientific study of the properties and behavior of matter. It is a physical science within the natural sciences that studies the chemical elements that make up matter and chemical compound, compounds made of atoms, molecules a ...

. Nevertheless, he worked to create an adhesive with a pliable surface coating for shoe soles, whipping up his experimental blends in a spaghetti pot. The result of his efforts was a

polymer A polymer () is a chemical substance, substance or material that consists of very large molecules, or macromolecules, that are constituted by many repeat unit, repeating subunits derived from one or more species of monomers. Due to their br ...

eventually marketed as "Shoe Goo". In 1972, to market his creation, Van Vliet started a business called Eclectic Products, with its manufacturing facilities in his home garage in

Palos Verdes, California The Palos Verdes Peninsula () is a peninsular subregion of the Los Angeles metropolitan area, located within southwestern Los Angeles County, California. It is often called simply "Palos Verdes", and is made up of a group of cities in the Palos ...

. He placed small ads in tennis magazines, and his wife Sandy approached tennis pro shops. Despite their efforts, they obtained only 22 retail orders during their first year. In 1974, Sandy convinced the retail giant

K-Mart Kmart ( ), formerly legally registered as Kmart Corporation, now operated by Transformco, is a department-store chain and online retailer in the United States and its territories. It operates four remaining Kmart big-box department stores � ...

to carry Shoe Goo. Although originally developed for tennis shoes, Shoe Goo quickly gained a foothold in the booming

jogging Jogging is a form of trotting or running at a slow or leisurely pace. The main intention is to increase physical fitness with less stress on the body than from faster running but more than walking, or to maintain a steady speed for longer periods ...

market of the 1970s and 1980s. By the end of its first decade, the company employed 15 people and had annual sales of approximately $2 million. Lyman Van Vliet quit his job at Hughes Aircraft to work full-time on his enterprise. In 1976 Eclectic Products established a manufacturing facility in nearby San Pedro. In 1988, Eclectic Products was sold to the Willamette Valley Company, which moved Shoe Goo's operations to

.Eclectic Products
"The Scoop on Goop"
aneclecticblog.com/ Retrieved October 17, 2010.

Uses

Although Shoe Goo can be used on rubber, wood, glass, concrete and metal, it is most commonly used as a pliable adhesive for separated shoe components, as a filler on worn shoe soles, and as a sealer to repair waterproof fabrics and footwear. Skateboarders use Shoe Goo on their skate shoes to protect them from, and repair damage done by, the skateboard's sandpaper-like "

grip tape ''Griptape'' is an album by the band Further, released in 1992. Lee Ranaldo of Sonic Youth guests on tracks 3 and 6. Critical reception ''Trouser Press ''Trouser Press'' was a rock and roll magazine started in New York in 1974 as a mimeog ...

". Cyclists use it to repair punctures by bonding vulcanised rubber patches to the punctured rubber inner tube. It is used by hobbyists in lieu of

as an assembly adhesive for radio controlled models of cars and aircraft, repair of Lexan bodies, and as a waterproofing agent for model boats. It is also used to protect the toes of

cricket bat A cricket bat is a specialised piece of equipment used by batters in the sport of cricket to hit the ball, typically consisting of a cane handle attached to a flat-fronted willow-wood blade. It may also be used by a batter who is making batte ...

Composition

Shoe Goo is composed of: *

Styrene-butadiene Styrene-butadiene or styrene-butadiene rubber (SBR) describe families of synthetic rubbers derived from styrene and butadiene (the version developed by Goodyear is called Neolite). These materials have good abrasion resistance and good aging ...

, a synthetic rubber with good abrasion resistance *

Toluene Toluene (), also known as toluol (), is a substituted aromatic hydrocarbon with the chemical formula , often abbreviated as , where Ph stands for the phenyl group. It is a colorless, water Water is an inorganic compound with the c ...

tetrachloroethylene Tetrachloroethylene, also known as perchloroethylene or under the systematic name tetrachloroethene, and abbreviations such as perc (or PERC), and PCE, is a chlorocarbon with the formula . It is a non-flammable, stable, colorless and heavy liqu ...

solvent *

Solvent naphtha White spirit (AU, UK and Ireland)Primarily in the United Kingdom and Australia. In New Zealand "white spirit" can also refer to Coleman fuel (white gas). or mineral spirits (US, Canada), also known as mineral turpentine (AU/NZ/ZA), turpentine sub ...

, a cleaning/degreasing solvent

References

{{reflist

External links

* Eclectic Products
Original Shoe Goo home page
eclecticproducts.com/ Retrieved October 17, 2010. * International Technical Trading Inc, Japanese homepage: http://www.shoegoo.co.jp English homepage: http://www.shoegoo.asia Chemical companies established in 1972 Adhesives Skateboarding equipment Sports technology Companies based in Eugene, Oregon 1972 establishments in California Products introduced in 1972

Origins

Uses

Composition

References

Further reading

External links