Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Non-Tech : Just For Feet (FEET) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: lanac who wrote (600)	6/29/1998 1:32:00 PM
From: Don Dorsey	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 750

There's always some new innovation on the horizon. <<< UFIT steps forward with innovative shoe design If Adam Oreck gets his way, Americans will be learning a whole new way to tie their shoes. Conventional shoes have laces that run up the top side of the shoe and serve mostly to keep the shoe tight to the foot. The UFIT -- Oreck's Minneapolis-based company is Universal Footwear Innovative Technologies Inc. -- incorporates the laces into the support system of the shoe, essentially by placing the eyelets down along the side, just above the sole. That affords numerous advantages. "It all starts with the idea of the product itself, what we've innovated in footwear," Oreck said. "If we weren't different, we would have a very difficult time in a marketplace that's so saturated with similar-looking designs." Oreck's design certainly looks different. He explained that the differences go beyond looks and into comfort, support and functionality. The UFIT design, according to Oreck, provides an enormous increase in lateral support, relieves pressure from the top of the foot, affords a lower heel closure, and allows higher ankle support. Oreck said the design started with sandals he made in the early and mid-1980s. In 1982, it was the Mantis, manufactured by Orkfin Enterprises Inc., in California. That partnership fell apart, and Oreck started Savage Sandals. That company failed due to a manufacturing problem. In 1988, Oreck moved to Minnesota. After a foray into inventing an acoustic tile-cleaning device, he returned to footwear to solve a problem for his father. "My dad said, 'Come up with a shoe that can be used for driving.' " Such footwear demanded great support but no pressure on the foot, Oreck said. "So I invented this," he said, holding up the original UFIT. What once was a gray dress shoe with closely spaced top laces was transformed into a UFIT with laces fed through eyelets along the sole and heel. Though the company has a rack full of prototypes, everything from athletic shoes to hiking boots, it has yet to enter the footwear market. Oreck says UFIT is close to changing that and is working to sign up retailers, including Dallas-based Foot Action. Foot Action is working with UFIT on testing the company's shoes and how they fit the store's format, said Mark Lardie, a Foot Action official who has worked with UFIT. "I think they have a real clever idea," Lardie said. Clever is key because of the difficulty breaking into a mature marketplace like footwear. "It's always tough to break in," Lardie said, "unless you have something that's unique." "We're about to do $3 million in wholesale business," Oreck said. "I would say we'll be in the market before the end of the year." That would cap what Oreck describes as a "quest" that began four and a half years ago. The UFIT inventor marks the launch date of the company as the date he applied for a patent on the shoe's design. At the time, Oreck approached Beaverton, Ore.-based athletic shoe titan Nike. The company expressed interest, Oreck said, but told him to come back when he got a patent. Oreck proceeded to talk with numerous other shoe companies, as well as other well-heeled companies that showed an interest in the design. He also said those shoemakers have learned from his design, which he backs up with a set of photographs of shoes that feature lacing systems similar to Oreck's. "We know we've got something," Oreck said. Eventually, he gave up on cutting a deal with a shoe company and decided to "go vertical" and manufacture the shoes and sell them through a new company.