Anti-microbial and/or anti-fungal footwear components formed from
various thermoplastic polymers and additives in fibers in a mono-component form
or a bi-component form in either a core-sheath or side-by-side configurations.
The anti-microbial synthetic fibers include inorganic anti-microbial additives,
distributed in certain areas to reduce the amount of the anti-microbial agents
being used, and therefore the cost of such fibers. In certain embodiments, high
tenacity polymers (e.g. PET) are employed in one portion and hydrolysis resistance
polymers (e.g. PCT) in another portion with the additives. The fibers can further
be blended with non-anti-microbial fibers such as cotton, wool, polyester, acrylic,
nylon etc. to provide anti-microbial finished fabrics. In one embodiment, binder
fibers are used which are mixed with other fibers.