Press Release
Vincent Blais Is Honored with the Silver A' Design Award for Fortex Work Boot in Safety Clothing and Personal Protective Equipment Design
Vincent Blais honored for safety clothing and personal protective equipment design by the international grand jury of the 2025 - 2026 A' Design Award & Competition
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
COMO, Italy, April 15, 2026 /DesignNewswire/ Fortex Work Boot by Vincent Blais, designed for Royer, has been granted the Silver A' Design Award in the Safety Clothing and Personal Protective Equipment Design category, A' Design Award & Competition has announced. The result belongs to the 2025 - 2026 A' Design Award & Competition and was decided through blind peer review by an international grand jury panel of established academics, design professionals and press members, who assessed anonymized entries against predetermined criteria.
The Silver A' Design Award Explained
The Silver A' Design Award celebrates top-tier designs that embody excellence and innovation. This award acknowledges creations that are not only aesthetically pleasing but also highly functional, reflecting the designer's deep understanding and skill. Silver A' Design Award recipients are recognized for their contribution to raising industry standards and advancing the practice of design. Their work often incorporates original innovations and elicits a strong emotional response, making a notable impact on the improvement of everyday life.
Regarding Fortex Work Boot
Fortex is a waterproof safety boot engineered for high risk industrial environments involving chemical exposure, impact hazards, and mechanical stress. Its innovation is a chemical co molding process that bonds thermoplastic polyurethane components to an injected polyurethane base, forming a unified structure without adhesives. Integrated elements include a metatarsal guard, lateral ankle protection, and a reinforced heel counter. The design provides resistance to water, chemicals, hydrocarbons, puncture, and slipping, while remaining lightweight, ergonomic, and thermally efficient.
About Vincent Blais
Simon La Rochelle is a Canadian entrepreneur with a focus on work and military footwear, driven by a commitment to improving the safety and performance of people working in critical and demanding environments. He has been part of Royer since 2003, holding progressive leadership roles across supply chain, innovation, and executive management. As CEO from 2014 to 2024, he led a decade of international growth, oversaw the inauguration of a new, state-of-the-art production facility, and directed the reshoring of 50% of the company's manufacturing back to Canada.
Award Record
With this recognition, Vincent Blais is a winner of 2 A' Design Awards. The awards were granted in the 2025 - 2026 edition of the A' Design Award & Competition.
About the A' Safety Clothing and Personal Protective Equipment Design Award
The A' Protective Equipment Design Award is an international design competition recognizing good protective equipment by leading designers and brands worldwide. It is organized within the A' Design Award & Competition and is open to protective equipment designers, safety clothing manufacturers, personal protective equipment brands and industrial designers from all countries. Typical entries include helmets, gloves, goggles, respirators, earplugs and safety boots. The awarded protective equipment designs are published at https://designers.org/design-category/protective-equipment
About A' Design Award & Competition
Organized annually since 2008, A' Design Award & Competition is an international, juried design accolade. The competition is open to entries from all countries. The philanthropic mission of the A' Design Award is to advance society through good design, by recognizing and promoting superior products, projects and services that benefit society, and by creating a global awareness and appreciation for good design practices and principles. Nominations are peer reviewed and evaluated anonymously by an international grand jury panel of established academics, design professionals and press members against predetermined criteria such as functionality, ergonomics, engineering, presentation, innovation, usability, sustainability and technology, with score normalization applied to remove biases. Awards are conferred at Platinum, Gold, Silver, Bronze and Iron levels. Eligible laureates receive the A' Design Prize, which includes the award trophy, the certificate of design excellence, the hardcover yearbook, a lifetime license to use the A' Design Award winner logo, exhibition of awarded works, an invitation to the gala night and award ceremony in Italy, inclusion in the World Design Rankings and Designer Rankings, and public relations and publicity services. Registration, uploading a work and receiving a preliminary score are free of charge, and Professional and Digital Edition laureates are not contractually obliged to pay further fees to claim the A' Design Prize. More information is available at https://competition.adesignaward.com
Press Resources
- Winner Page: https://designers.org/182037
- A' Design Award Page: https://competition.adesignaward.com/182037
- Media Showcase: https://www.designnewsroom.com/!182037
- Laureate Profile: https://designers.org/d/380608
- Further Information from the Laureate: http://royer.com
Media Contact
Giulia Ferrari, Press Office
Designers.Org
Via Leone Leoni 32, 22100 Como, Italy
press@designers.org
+39 031 4491953
###
Fact Sheet
The Work
- Project
- Fortex Work Boot
- Function
- Work Boot
- Category
- Safety Clothing and Personal Protective Equipment Design
- Discipline
- Industrial Design
- Industry
- Manufacturing and Fashion
- Colors
- Dark Slate Gray, Dim Gray, Gray, Black and Dark Gray
- Images
- 5
- Client
- Royer
The Recognition
- Laureate
- Vincent Blais
- Country
- Canada
- Recognition
- Silver A' Design Award
- Edition
- 2025 - 2026
- Design ID
- #182037
Credits
- Team
- Loïc Girard, Francis Lacroix, DEVELOPING PARTNERS:, Felice Scarnera & Benedetto Scarnera from SFB Srl (Italy), Roberto Gobbato – GGS (Italy), ELACHEM (Italy) and Alexandra Dombrovska (Italy)
Design Details
- Unique Properties
- Engineered to redefine industrial performance, this boot features a quad-density co-injection system fusing PU and TPU into one seamless chassis. Anatomically mapped zones deliver lightweight shock absorption and targeted protection at key impact areas. A rigid heel stabilizes the foot on uneven terrain, while specialized outsoles ensure grip in extreme conditions. Cement-free bonding forms a waterproof, monolithic structure built for lasting durability and safety.
- Inspiration
- This project merges heritage craftsmanship with advanced material science, transforming traditional footwear into an integrated high-performance system with protection embedded in its structural DNA. Inspired by biological exoskeletons, it acts as both protective shell and load-bearing frame. Rib-cage inspired arch geometry in the metatarsal zone disperses impact while preserving flexibility, creating a biomimetic system balancing safety and ergonomic performance.
- Research
- This applied industrial research explored polymer chemistry and precision engineering to eliminate adhesion failure and cold embrittlement in safety footwear. Using iterative prototyping and destructive testing, high-density TPU was co-injected with a cellular PU core to form a monolithic structure. Hundreds of bonding and sub-zero wear tests led to a cement-free boot with permanent molecular fusion, zero delamination, and full CSA, ASTM, and EN/ISO compliance.
- Challenge
- The principal challenge was achieving reliable co-molding between TPU and a PU base, ensuring sufficient bonding strength in the metatarsal insert located within the boot’s primary flex zone. This required rethinking rotary-injection machine & tooling: a system allowing a pre-molded TPU insert to seat in an articulated receiver moving in frontal-transverse planes before mold closure and PU injection. Constraints included production feasibility, material behavior, wearer comfort and international safety standard requirements.
- Realization and Technology
- This safety boot is engineered through co-injection molding, chemically bonding high-density TPU reinforcement with a lightweight PU core to form a seamless, monolithic structure free from adhesives and delamination. Developed for sub-zero climates, the TPU formulation maintains elasticity at -40°C, ensuring impact resistance without brittleness. Precision tooling guarantees exact reinforcement placement, delivering targeted protection, thermal stability, and durability without added bulk.
- Operation and Interaction
- This safety boot functions as a flexible exoskeleton, flexing at the forefoot while stabilizing the heel. TPU reinforcements shield the metatarsal area and ankle from impact without limiting movement. Unlike cemented footwear, its PU and TPU components are co-injected and chemically fused into a single monolithic structure, eliminating delamination. Built for harsh industrial and cold environments, it delivers long-term durability, reliability, and consistent performance.
- Project Duration and Location
- Designing started in Sherbrooke, Quebec, Canada in Dec. 2023. Engineering started in Legnaro, Padova, Italy in September 2024 with GGS, an elite Italian mold-making partner lead by M. Roberto Gobbato.
- Specifications
- Product Dimensions (1 boot, size 42): 310 mm x 120 mm x 400 mm (height) Package: 510 mm x 355 mm x 140 mm
- Keywords
- Co-injected Footwear, TPU Reinforcement, Polyurethane Safety Boot, Cold Weather Protection, Ankle protection, Metatarsal Protection, Industrial Design, Injection Molding Innovation, Chemical Bonding, Work Boot
