100% biobased plastic passes SATRA testing with Bared Footwear and new footwear-grade biobased leather alternative delivers up to 500k Bally Flex cycles and 70k Martindale abrasion revs.
Houston, TX – [01 October 2026] – Rheom Materials, a Houston-based biomaterial company, today announced its expansion into the sustainable footwear industry with the launch of Benree™ for hard plastic shoe components and Shorai®Dura for footwear uppers. Both materials have passed footwear specs, making Rheom a one-stop shop for biobased footwear.
Benree™, Rheom’s biobased hard plastic alternative, has passed SATRA testing for high heel applications with the Australian footwear brand, Bared Footwear. The test results reveal that this 100% USDA Certified Biobased material is performance comparable to ABS plastic for footwear while remaining biodegradable under home composting conditions.
Bared’s Head of Sustainability, Millie Richards, said, “At Bared, we're constantly on a journey to remove plastic from our shoes. At the same time, our brand won't compromise on quality for the end customer. From samples and testing, Rheom has proven to be solving both of those problems for us. We look forward to seeing how they develop as a company and would love to use them in our shoes.”
Further adding to its footwear toolkit, Rheom has begun exploring additional internal components for Benree including toe puffs and heel counters, and has launched its durable biobased leather, Shorai®Dura, for footwear uppers.
Rheom’s scientists engineered Shorai®Dura to meet the durability and abrasion specifications that footwear construction demands. The result is a biobased material with extremely strong molecular bonding within the material matrix. In testing, the material achieves 500,000 Bally Flex cycles, 70,000 Martindale abrasion revs, and has strong results in wet Martindale abrasion, color fastness, tear propagation resistance, and tensile strength. To put Shorai®Dura to the test, Rheom asked a Los Angeles-based footwear manufacturer to create two footwear prototypes using the high-performance material. The result was a sleek athletic sneaker and a textured skater shoe both made with a Shorai®Dura upper.
“A shoe is not one material; it is multiple parts working together as a system. Substituting a single material has never moved the needle,” said Zimri T. Hinshaw, Rheom’s Founder and CEO. “Rheom wants to make it easier for brands to make a positive impact. By providing an assortment of biobased materials, brands can change the system, not just a swatch of it."
About Rheom Materials
Rheom Materials is a Houston-based company engineering biobased alternatives to petrochemical plastics, formulating scaled, high-performance materials that are better for people and the planet. Rheom Materials produces two main products: Shorai®, a leather alternative, and Benree, a hard plastic alternative. Change your impact, not your life at https://www.rheom.com/. For more information please contact: Marlies Jongens, Branding & Marketing Coordinator, marliesjongens@rheom.com.
