First Graphene sees wider market potential after Flux Footwear order - ICYMI

Armstrong indicated that building a track record of commercial use would remain important in supporting broader customer adoption and establishing confidence in graphene materials at scale.

Interview highlights

• First production order from Flux Footwear: First Graphene has secured an initial production order from US footwear company Flux Footwear for graphene used in its existing Graphene-Pro footwear range.

• Supply reliability was a key factor: Flux sought a replacement graphene supplier capable of meeting specified material properties and supporting demand for an already-commercialised product.

• Manufacturing capacity: First Graphene's Western Australian production facility has 100 tonnes of capacity and a modular design that can support expansion.

• Experience across three footwear clients: The company has now worked with Steel Blue, PT Alasmas Berkat Utama and Flux Footwear across safety, mining and sports footwear applications.

• Accelerating commercialisation: Armstrong said the first footwear project took almost three years to reach a commercial product, the Indonesian project took just over a year, and the Flux project reached material readiness in roughly six months.

• Potential volume opportunity: Armstrong cited an external forecast of approximately US$212 billion for the footwear market by 2035, highlighting how even small amounts of graphene per shoe could translate into substantial material requirements at scale. This figure was cited by the interviewee, rather than independently verified.

• Different footwear markets, transferable materials: Safety footwear is mainly driven by functional performance and institutional purchasing, while sports footwear also faces consumer marketing demands and greater competition between brands.

• Importance beyond initial revenue: The first Flux order is not financially material on its own, but provides another example of commercial adoption and establishes knowledge that could support further projects.

• Broader applications: Experience integrating graphene into footwear materials could inform future work in mining, automotive and aeronautical applications.

• Potential future catalysts: Developments to monitor include further orders from Flux, growth in graphene footwear adoption, additional commercial partnerships and evidence of the company's processes being transferred into other sectors. These are potential developments, not confirmed commitments or announced milestones.

Proactive: Today we're joined by First Graphene Limited, a supplier of advanced graphene materials, with its PureGRAPH® range manufactured in Henderson, near Perth, and R&D capability in the UK.

First Graphene recently announced its first production order from US footwear company Flux Footwear, marking a move into the global sports shoe market. Joining us to talk about it is Commercial Manager Neil Armstrong. Neil, welcome.

What has First Graphene secured with Flux Footwear, and why is it significant?

Neil Armstrong: Flux approached us about 12 months ago. The company was looking for a replacement supplier to meet the demands of its graphene footwear range, which had already launched into the market.

Flux already had market presence and forecast demand for the product, and was looking to secure a more reliable source of graphene feedstock.

Flux approached us with a specific range of graphene properties. As a step back, graphene isn't a well-defined material with one unique set of properties. It's a family of materials, so it's important to address that. Some graphenes are good for certain applications, while others are suitable for different applications.

Flux approached us with target properties, and we were able to meet those through our process in Western Australia.

It was a relatively straightforward project for us. We're quite experienced in the footwear market now, and we're familiar with the materials used in footwear.

It was a matter of finding a suitable intermediate compounder that could use our graphene and produce it in a more user-friendly format for Flux to incorporate into its production process.

It was a good fit, and the project could progress quite quickly because of our experience. It was essentially a matter of meeting Flux's requirements and switching the company over to our material. It has been a great project.

Proactive: Fitness and wellness are major global trends, with more people focused on training, gym and leisure footwear. How can PureGRAPH® capitalise on that?

Neil Armstrong: Absolutely. My wife would tell you I've got a problem with the number of shoes I buy, so I can empathise with this project.

I think I read somewhere that the market was forecast to reach around US$212 billion by 2035.

If you conservatively assume US$200 for a pair of shoes, that's roughly a billion pairs of shoes.

Even a relatively small fraction of that represents a very large number of shoes. There might only be a couple of grams of graphene in each shoe, but if you multiply that by a very large number of shoes, it quickly becomes significant.

I think it's important to look at the market in terms of the number of shoes rather than just the dollar value.

We deal with a lot of large-volume applications. With footwear in particular, it's easy to focus on individual quantities and think that a couple of grams isn't much. But when you multiply that across potentially significant production volumes, the opportunity increases quite quickly.

There's also increasing demand for durability and performance. That's ideal for graphene because of the material's hardness, wear resistance and durability properties. It's a significant opportunity.

Proactive: I love that I have a lot more sneakers than heels now, like so many women. Flux already uses graphene in its Graphene-Pro footwear range. What were the main drivers behind selecting PureGRAPH®, and what impact will it have as Flux progressively replaces its existing graphene models?

Neil Armstrong: That's a very good question.

Flux already had the material in the market. The company had developed the product, brought it to market and launched it.

There's a common problem that we address. Graphene is relatively straightforward to produce on a small scale, and that has been the case for some time.

For applications such as high-end sensors and electronics, you might only need grams or micrograms of graphene. Certain graphene suppliers have established operations to accommodate that market.

However, when we're talking about volumes associated with footwear, cement and concrete, mining or automotive applications, you need scale.

That's where First Graphene focused from an early stage. The founding team, myself included, and the people who initially ran the company came from oil and gas and mining backgrounds.

Scale was on our minds when we built our operational factory in Western Australia.

We have 100 tonnes of production capacity, and the facility is modular in design, so we can upscale relatively quickly.

A hundred tonnes of graphene is a lot when you consider the bulk density of the material. We established the operation to address larger-volume markets.

Flux isn't a unique occurrence. We have companies approaching us saying they already have a product in the market, or are close to launching one, and suddenly need to address supply.

It was really a simple case of supply and demand when you take a step back.

Proactive: You've already worked with Steel Blue in Australia and PT Alasmas Berkat Utama in Indonesia on safety and mining work boots. How do the demands of that footwear differ from athletic and leisure shoes, and what carries over to a customer like Flux?

Neil Armstrong: There are a few differences to address.

Firstly, safety footwear contains more material per pair, so there's more graphene used in a pair of safety boots.

However, safety footwear is often supplied by an employer. Unless you're a contractor supplying your own boots, a big mining company or other large employer will generally provide the footwear.

That means there's less of a marketing element. It's primarily performance-driven, and there's a significant push for performance, but the individual doesn't always decide which footwear to use.

Sports footwear is obviously driven by performance too. People want products that last longer, but there's also a marketing element, and it's a very competitive market.

There are many more sporting goods brands than safety footwear brands, and they're all competing to improve performance.

That can drive innovation much more quickly.

It's a good opportunity to demonstrate the performance of graphene materials in these applications.

We can then adapt or apply that experience to other areas, such as automotive and mining, because the same materials are involved.

Having a material already used in one market can reduce some of the risk or concern associated with introducing it into another.

It helps build trust in a new material.

The applications are similar in some respects and different in others, but because the underlying materials are the same, we can apply that knowledge elsewhere.

Proactive: The announcement notes that this first order isn't financially material on its own. How does footwear fit alongside your other markets, such as cement and concrete, composites and coatings, in terms of First Graphene's commercialisation strategy?

Neil Armstrong: As I mentioned, the materials used in footwear are identical to those used in mining, and very similar to materials used in aeronautical and automotive applications.

One of the main hurdles in using graphene is how to incorporate it at scale.

You can do it quite easily in a laboratory. There are hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of research papers demonstrating graphene's properties.

It's not necessarily a question of whether graphene works. It's about how to use it at scale.

Using footwear as an example, we've now developed a route to market and methodologies for incorporating graphene into these materials. That knowledge is transferable.

We can take the same approach we've used in footwear, where competition and the drive for innovation encourage the adoption of new materials, and apply it to areas such as mining, aeronautics and automotive.

Those sectors can be much more conservative in their selection of materials because there's more risk involved.

If you can reduce that perceived risk by demonstrating that the material is already being used commercially, it can help accelerate development in those other areas.

Footwear provides a good example that we can use to expand into markets with potentially much larger material requirements.

Although the initial opportunity is smaller, it's by no means insignificant if adoption grows and you consider the number of shoes being produced.

It's also a way of building a bridge into other, potentially larger markets.

Footwear pipeline and upcoming milestones

Proactive: Lastly, Flux is your third footwear client. What does the pipeline look like from here, and what are the next milestones we should watch for?

Neil Armstrong: That's correct.

What this demonstrates is an acceleration in adoption.

Our first client, Steel Blue, took almost three years to progress from concept to a commercial product.

Then the project with PT Alasmas Berkat Utama in Indonesia took roughly just over a year.

With Flux, we had material ready to go in approximately six months.

That shows the momentum we're building.

Once you've completed a project, you can apply the knowledge gained to the next development.

As I've mentioned, that experience is transferable into other areas where we're already working, including mining and automotive.

We can start using these footwear projects as case studies to support further development in those sectors.

They also give potential customers greater confidence.

Graphene has been around for about 20 years, but it's still a relatively new material when it comes to large-scale applications.

You have to build confidence and trust because adopting an unfamiliar material introduces risk.

If potential customers can see that a material is already being used commercially in other areas, and has been in the market for four or five years at scale, that helps build confidence that it can work in their own applications.

Proactive: Thank you for the update.