ATLANTA

Company overview

When it started, in 1995, Atlanta had two machines and five employees. Today, it’s a Small Medium Enterprise
with aproximately 100 workers and the ability of producing 15 to 20 thousand pairs of soles per day.
This company located in Felgueiras, dedicates itself to the production and commercialization of components

It develops its products and services for the footwear industry, operating in all phases of the process, from
the research of the fashion trends to the development, prototyping and production of soles in thermoplastic
materials, vulcanized rubber and TPU injection skin. Some may take 3 minutes but the most sophisticated
can take up to 7 hours. Atlanta has chosen to create their own collections with new materials and new
The design, alongside with comfort and quality, cutting-edge technology, the research for new materials,
applications and processes and a highly qualified team, has made Atlanta an innovative company, which was
Atlanta develops, produces and commercializes shoe soles in several materials, such as EVA, SBR, TPU, TR, PU,
PVC, molded by injection in a single-colored, bicolored or tricolored piece, as well as other components.


Company growth
At the beginning, Atlanta’s production capacity was limited to 500 to 700 pairs of soles per day and was only
able to produce single-coloured soles. In 1997 and 1998, the company took an important step: to meet the
In 2003, they built an industrial unit with a total surface area of 300 m² to enhance the manufacturing process,
and an area 800 m² for a quality control laboratory, sample rooms, design and modelling, as well as offices and
At the beginning of 2004, to improve the customer service, production tasks and administration, Atlanta
computerized the productive and administrative processes with the installation of an E.R.P. software,
specifically developed for the company. Simultaneously, it implemented a Quality Management System,
obtaining the quality certification by the Portuguese Standard NP-EN-ISO 9001:2008 from APCER (Portuguese
Certification Association) in November 2004. The certification was recently updated to the current Portuguese
Company research and development
Atlanta has dedicated teams to R&D to systematically create new processes, materials, applications,
An example is the use of laser technology for a faster production of customized pieces with detailed incisions
and engravings (images, logos, marks, textures). Pad printing is also used as an indirect transfer printing process
of the ink through a low relief image carrier with the to be printed pattern. In the company’s laboratory, all the
equipment is properly calibrated by external entities. The quality of the raw materials, components and final
Designing the future
Recognizing the need to develop new materials in line with the new global requirements, within FOOTure
4.0, the strategy for the Portuguese Footwear Industry which aims to contribute do the modernization of
SME’s and to appropriately respond to market needs, therefore leading the industry towards growth and
Due to the ecological, functional, competitiveness and fashion requirements, the partners are working on
the research, development and creation of innovative products in the fields of new composite materials,
new concept of comfortable and economically competitive heels, as well as on identifying solutions to
recover the residues of vulcanized rubber produced during the process of manufacturing soles. They
are also looking for new intermediate parts (soles, inserts) produced with this vaporized rubber to be
used synergistically within the new concept of footwear. Atlanta already has one patent and two more
presently being patented.