JULY 2008: NEXT, AN ELECTRONIC SHOE
Need to get a grip or gain a little traction? Maybe your shoes
can help. Select Sole, a Vancouver-based startup, is developing
a sole that electronically sprouts, and retracts, various kinds
of spikes with the push of a button. Don’t want to change
out of your golfing cleats when you step into the clubhouse for
lunch? No problem. Just push the battery-powered button and the
metal spikes retract. The company also is designing soles with
specific traction for athletic, outdoor, military and
industrial shoes. Shoemakers are desperate for new technology,
says president and CEO Tim Hawkins. In the past year the
company has built three prototypes, raised about a million
dollars and is talking with manufacturers interested in
licensing the technology. Hawkins expects Select Sole shoes
will be in stores by fall 2009. The biggest challenge so far:
selling the idea of electronics inside shoes. “Getting a
shoe brand to eat this elephant needs to be done in a couple of
bites,” Hawkins says. JASON SHUFFLER
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