Rheom Launches Biobased Benree and Shorai®Dura

The Houston biomaterials company introduced two sustainable materials aimed at footwear components and uppers.

Updated on Nov. 6, 2026 in Materials Science

Pale translucent biobased material samples laid in a row on a clean lab bench, with a hazy Houston industrial skyline visible through a window. — Houston biomaterials company Rheom Materials launched Benree and Shorai®Dura, two biobased materials it says can replace petroleum plastics in footwear components and uppers. AI Illustration. Upload story photo >

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Would you buy shoes made from plant-based materials instead of plastic?

Rheom Materials, a Houston-based biomaterial company, has launched Benree for hard plastic shoe components and Shorai®Dura for footwear uppers. The company says both materials are designed to offer sustainable alternatives for footwear manufacturing.

Why it matters

Footwear relies heavily on petroleum-based plastics and synthetic uppers, and biobased materials that perform comparably could shift how components are made. For Houston readers, the launch reflects local biomaterials development taking shape in the city's industrial sector.

Benree is a 100% USDA Certified Biobased material that passed SATRA testing for high heel applications with Bared Footwear and performs comparably to ABS plastic in test results. Shorai®Dura reached 500,000 Bally Flex cycles and 70,000 Martindale abrasion revs in testing, but the source does not specify production-scale performance.

The players

Rheom Materials

Rheom Materials is a Houston-based biomaterial company that develops sustainable materials for consumer products.

Bared Footwear

Bared Footwear is an Australian footwear brand that worked with Rheom to test Benree for high heel applications.

The details

Rheom asked a Los Angeles-based footwear manufacturer to build two prototypes using Shorai®Dura, an athletic sneaker and a textured skater shoe, both with a Shorai®Dura upper. Benree is biodegradable under home composting conditions, and Rheom has begun exploring toe puffs and heel counters as additional internal components for the material.

Rheom announced the launch of Benree and Shorai®Dura on November 6, 2026.

The Big Picture

Footwear performance testing through SATRA and Bally Flex standards has long been the benchmark for judging synthetic materials. Rheom's results apply those same benchmarks to biobased materials, testing whether sustainable alternatives can match the durability of conventional plastics like ABS.

Footwear buyers may eventually see shoe components made from biobased materials that match the performance of ABS plastic. Benree's home-composting biodegradability could also matter for people who want to reduce waste from worn-out shoes.

The takeaway

Biobased materials that pass standard footwear durability tests give manufacturers a practical path to reduce reliance on petroleum plastics. Watching whether these results hold at commercial scale will show whether the approach works beyond prototypes.