The quality is clear
October 1st 2004 Totectors is back. The demise of the most famous name in safety footwear was hard to believe for those who had always trusted its products. Now the brand has been relaunched in the UK so Ian Clay, HSM’s editor went to meet those responsible.
In April 2004 Zazman Exports, suppliers to Totectors for over twenty years acquired, in partnership with Swedish workwear manufacturer Tranemo, the intellectual property rights to Totectors. Totectors UK Limited re-launched the Totectors brand alongside Zazman’s own Z-X brand at the Health and Safety Expo at the N.E.C in May 2004. The rationale behind the deal is that as Zazman had the technology to manufacture the Totector range, and as there is still a great demand for shoes such as the Coasta II range then it made sense to meet that demand. However, the tie-up with Tranemo gives Totectors a European customer base from which it is hoped the brand can develop from being a UK one into a global one (Zazman is joining with different partners in the U.S.A, Singapore, Dubai and Australia however).
But, loyal as end users were to the original brand there were existing problems such as distribution and availability that had to be improved if the re-launch was to be successful. In order to offer better service, Totectors UK has changed its distribution policy so that now the shoes are only available through independent distributors. This Jan Henningsen, managing director of Totectors UK believes will mean that specifiers will be able to access the best possible advice and follow-up service. This new approach is reflected in the products’ lead times as Totectors UK says all products are available for next day delivery across the UK and Ireland.
Another potential obstacle to the successful relaunch of the brand was the criticism, as acknowledged by Ron Page, product development manager of Zazman Exports, that although the brand was very strong some of its products had become stagnant. In the intervening period between the start of the company’s demise and its rebirth had the world of safety shoe technology moved on so far as to leave many of the old shoes redundant? Ron, who worked for Totectors for many years before joining Zazman answers this criticism by stating that although the new Totector shoes were manufactured on original moulds, these moulds have not only been refurbished but also new technology had been introduced to improve the performance of the shoes. Proof of this comes with the introduction of the PU/TPU sole technology. TPU, as Ron points out is Thermoplastic Polyurethane which delivers improved wear properties, abrasion resistance, resistance to cut growth and excellent low temperature performance.
Alongside an improved aesthetic appearance Ron highlights that TPU is a translucent material but this translucence only come from 100% virgin TPU. The quality is clear, says Ron we don’t regenerate from scraps.
More evidence of the technical improvement in the Totectors shoes is the fact that Zazman, when it introduced its own range of safety shoes invested over £1 million on the installation of a state of the art Desma direct injection moulding machine at its factory in Kanpur, India and its full robotics supply the benefit of quality repeatability. Jan Henningsen claims that this manufacturing technology actually places Totectors UK ahead of many of its competitors.
Despite the fact that the shoes are manufactured in India (midsoles, toecaps and soling systems are sourced in Europe) product development, design and testing is still carried out under the jurisdiction of Ron Page in the UK. This Ron says means that Users have access to high end technology while reaping the benefits of global sourcing and low manufacturing costs. We are not going down the cheap route but because of the superb Zazman facility in India we are able to put more into the shoe while still coming out at mid price.
The new rationalised Totectors and ‘ZX by Totectors’ range is being certified by Satra. As readers may be aware CEN, the European Committee for Standardization, has made many changes and additions to the CE certification requirements that came into effect from September 2004. Satra believes it is the first testing authority in the world to be able to certify footwear to the new standards and within a couple of months all the footwear in the Totectors collection will bear the ‘new’ EN ISO 20345:2004 marking. Which is a bit of a coup adds Ron Page and should help allay even the most cynical users fears surrounding goods manufactured on the sub-continent.
The rationalised range and the top end ‘ZX by Totectors’ range will be ready for public consumption by the time of the 2005 UK Health and Safety Expo. By then the management team is confident that not only will the safety technology attract potential users but also the new styling will appeal to the increasingly important younger market and the female market (most product ranges come in size 3 or 4 to size 13). Of course the fact that loyal UK buyers can again contact their distributor and ask for ‘a pair of Totectors’ will no doubt do no harm either. More articles from Totectors UK: | 
