K System: pressure-sensitive insole adhesive tape

What K System is

K System is one of the four Kyotex business units — Kyotex being ALC's brand for footwear and leather goods. Its pressure-sensitive adhesives arrive at the plant as a solid, usually on tape, and create the bond when pressure is applied.

Because the adhesive layer is ready to use, insole bonding becomes clean and immediate: no ovens, no open flames and no solvent flash-off on the line. For many plants it is the most direct route to a solvent-free shoe adhesive.

How pressure-sensitive bonding works

With a solvent-based shoe cement, the adhesive goes on wet and the solvent has to flash off before the parts can be joined. A PSA skips that step entirely: the adhesive film is already formed, and pressure alone joins the surfaces.

ALC describes tape-based bonding as a way to bring production concepts built on efficiency, environmental sustainability and respect for workers' health into footwear and leather goods manufacturing.

For the full background, read what a PSA adhesive is and how it is used in footwear.

Where it fits

• Solvent-free insole bonding: insole adhesive tape that replaces wet cement. See solvent-free insole bonding.
• Leather goods: Kyotex PSA adhesives for leather goods, including medium and large parts. See leather goods adhesives.
• Cold processes: when the material shouldn't be heated. See the guide to cold insole bonding.

Machinery for K System

Kyotex PSA adhesives are applied with Kyo equipment designed alongside them:

• KYO100S: a pneumatic machine for the self-aligning application of Kyotex PSA adhesives up to 145 mm wide.
• KYO500: a machine for applying medium and large Kyotex PSA adhesives in leather goods.

See the full lineup on our shoe machinery page.

What we need to recommend a tape

Every line is different. To suggest the right adhesive and equipment, it helps to know:

• Which materials you are bonding, and where in the shoe or product.
• Your production volume.
• How you bond insoles today and what you want to improve.
• Whether your process can use heat or has to stay cold.