Salomon has unveiled the S/LAB Phantasm 2 ASF, the first Made-in-France road running supershoe, in the Advanced Shoe Factory 4.0 located in Ardoix, Ardèche. This is the third model of Salomon shoes coming out of ASF 4.0 since its opening in 2022.
The S/LAB Phantasm is a superlight (219g) racing shoe with a full-length carbon fiber plate and PEBAx foam that provides best-in-class propulsion, paired with a lightweight, breathable Matryx upper that is produced in the neighbouring Chamatex factory for an optimized circuit time. A supershoe made for those who thrive when racing and breaking records, now Made-in-France. The shoe will only be available in limited quantities in 2024. In 2025, the Made-in-France version will replace the regular S/LAB Phantasm 2 in the range for Europe.
“We started this Made-in-France journey at ASF with the Metacross trail-running shoe in 2022, and we have been looking for a way to replicate this for road running,” explains Gatien Airiau. “We took this as a challenge to reduce the distance between the factory where the shoe is produced and the starting line, and we challenged ourselves to kick it off with the fastest shoe in our range! It needs to meet our highest standards for our top-level athletes who are trying to qualify for World Championships and major road events. And they are quite demanding, so there is no margin for error!”
Same energyFOAM+ PEBAx midsole, same energyBLADE carbon fiber plate, and a reworked single-mesh upper made with a completely new Matryx upper from Chamatex, bringing Matryx to a new level: lightweight construction, flexible and breathable mesh. A shoe produced locally for local runners. Same price, more sustainable.
How ASF 4.0 creates high-performance footwear in France
ASF is an ultra-modern footwear factory producing 500 pairs of shoes every day. 90 people work there across roles of production and engineering to make footwear using parts that come mostly from France and across Europe. It’s a combination of automation, skilled professionals, and using Matryx material created right next door at Chamatex. The process to adapt the S/LAB Phantasm 2 to produce it at ASF took 2 years, from the original brief to having the shoe on the market. Laurent Coudurier, Research & Development manager for the S/LAB Phantasm 2 ASF project, explains the challenges they looked to solve during those 2 years:
“The first challenge, which was to find a superlight, breathable and resistant Made-in-France fabric, was easily solved with the help of Chamatex when they designed this new Matryx that blends lightness, nimble and highly breathable. The second challenge was to design the S/LAB Phantasm 2 so it would fit with the production requirements of an “automatic” shoe factory.”
The Matryx parts for the upper are cut using a very precise laser machine, while other parts of the upper are cut using a cutter machine. It only takes two operations to cut all the pieces of the upper, which are then glued together by a combination of highly skilled workers and machines, with some stitching done on the tongue and on the heel for padding, before going into printing for the logo and details. The printing is done in one operation. The final step to making this supershoe is to attach the bottom unit, which is sourced in Asia, to the upper. The midsole is made with a lightweight super foam and a carbon plate that is sensitive to pressure, so this step needs the combined care and precision of a very skilled worker and a highly advanced machine.
The S/LAB Phantasm 2 ASF, a super shoe for your fastest runs and races
For those runners whose goals include the words “personal record” or “winning”, Salomon has updated its best plated shoe to create the superlight, supersonic S/LAB Phantasm 2. This shoe comes with everything you need to surpass yourself and your competition, starting with a full-length carbon fibre plate with a new plate geometry to optimize propulsion. The updated Energy Foam+, located above and under the plate, is a lighter and more responsive foam that provides you with explosive propulsive energy when running at high speed. The upper has been reworked to be lighter, thanks to an optimized, single-layer mesh construction to support you through the finish line from 10K to marathon.
