Foot Care: A Look at The Use of Silver in Footwear
By James Fowler

There are many “cures” for stopping foot odor from charcoal filters, to scents that mask the odor and other artificial chemical substances. One of the most recent uses of destroying foot odor is the element silver spun into the weave of the fabric. Silver has been used for over 4000 years as an anti-bacterial agent and is still commonplace in hospitals today. Scientists were unable to bond the silver permanently to thread until the last century. With the problems associated with bacteria and the foot, why wouldn’t this natural element find a place in the footwear industry?

So, what is silver? Silver is a chemical element on the periodic table that has the symbol Ag (from the traditional abbreviation from the Latin, Argentum). It is a soft, white lustrous transition metal; silver has the highest electrical and thermal conductivity of any metal. Silver has traditionally been used in coins, tableware, and jewelry. In medicine, it is the first medicine introduced to a newborn baby’s eyes (as in silver nitrate), colloidal silver is used as a liquid anti-bacterial, and silver sulfadiazine is used as a topical cream for burn victims.

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