Preferences for leather soles over rubber alternatives represent an outmoded way of thinking, comfortshoes firm Camper has claimed.

Urko Berrioaegortua Diaz, polymer engineer for Camper shoes, said that the association of leather with craft and quality in shoemaking is something which is diminishing.

“Consumers may associate quality with leather but the idea that a rubber sole means a cheap shoe is fading rapidly,” he told the Financial Times.

Mr Diaz argued that traditionalists may view leather as superior but the main reason that the material was used for so long is that there were no alternatives.

In contrast, advancing technologies “have pushed what is possible with synthetics”, he pointed out.

Campers comfortshoes are at the forefront of this spirit of advancement today – a fact that can be traced as far back as 1877.

Back then, Antonio Fluxa, grandfather of Campers founder Lorenzo, travelled from Spain to England to learn more about industrialised ways in which to manufacture shoes.

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