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FARE INSIEME - Ep. 226 - GAIT-TECH, a hi-tech shoe that wards off aches and pains and steps into comfort and well-being

«The most important accolade comes from the first B2B customers who will adopt our insoles»

12/12/2024

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A venture that was a shot in the dark. It all started from a revolutionary idea for footwear, but what stands out in this story is the ability to reinvent oneself, connect markets, and look to the future. For FARE INSIEME, Giampaolo Colletti interviewed Andrea Goldoni, CEO of GAIT- TECH

by Giampaolo Colletti

@gpcolletti

How much do ideas matter? Everything and nothing. Because ideas, when they are smart and scalable, have to be nurtured, tweaked, and sometimes even revolutionised. And they need to be shared, that is, worked through with the team. Ideas, and by that we mean good ideas, are ageless. So, the story we are about to tell is about all this and debunks some common misconceptions. Because it tells us about a concrete idea conceived in a second life, in middle age when you may mistakenly think you cannot change or reinvent yourself at work. Wrong. Because anything is possible.

Company profile
. Let's start with the people, the heart of any businesses. The story of GAIT-TECH is shaped by its four founders. ‘Our first thought goes to the person who left us last summer in a car accident and who convinced me to change fields at my age and throw myself into this challenge: Simone Marchesini, who was a highly respected and successful orthopaedic technician and who dealt both in lower limb reconstruction using special composites and in insoles for athletes. A wonderful man with whom we started to dream big. Another important piece in the reconstruction of the story is that of another founder, Stefano Caiumi, a physical and postural therapist with wide-ranging skills in the field who showed us his vision of foot support for high-heeled shoes. I am the least skilled, but perhaps the craziest one of the group who actually gave it a go, bringing in a close friend, corporate lawyer Marcello Benetti, who has helped us since the beginning with the company's incorporation, patenting, contracting and the relationship with shareholders,’ says Andrea Goldoni, CEO of GAIT-TECH. In short, I’m sure that you can guess what we are talking about. But let's proceed in an orderly fashion and tell you about this startup that was born in 2020 and is now benchmarking and testing its products with those of global groups that have been making shoes for centuries. The company brings as its dowry a new concept of comfort and wellbeing in shoes. Until now, comfort has been sacrificed in favour of aesthetics. Nowadays, comfort can be significantly improved with a patent that focuses on the support of the foot and its most stressed bone structures. This is biomechanics, with a keen eye also on environmental sustainability using FSC and Zero Waste certified cellulosic materials and a special material made from ground walnut shells. We are in Carpi, with a population of just over seventy thousand, the most populous municipality in the province of Modena. ‘This is where three of the company's founders were born and where local entrepreneurs, who have earned my eternal gratitude, became involved and decided to support the business. I was born here too and, even although I was involved in agricultural machinery, my contacts are in this community; it was really invigorating to introduce myself again in such a different capacity,’ Goldoni says. Various interconnected territories. ‘Starting with the fashion hub in Milan where the renowned designer Diego Dolcini listened to our ideas and put his trust in us, smoothing the way for the first contacts in the sector and taking part actively in the industrialisation,” Goldoni continues. Then there is the Tuscan district, with the production area around Calcinaia in the province of Pisa where Solettificio Il Veliero is located, a true excellence in the sector and which believed in the project right from the outset. And there is the Brenta area between Padua and Venice where footwear production is located, and the Tuscan and Marche districts. And, finally, there is the global market.

Amazing ideas.
Ideas, we said earlier. Everything started with two patents describing the ideal support for the foot when it assumes an almost vertical position in high heels. GAIT-TECH has made a breakthrough in the design of insoles, redistributing the pressure points on the ball of the foot, readjusting the stresses below the metatarsal heads - the bony structures most affected and where the weight is concentrated - in a more physiologically correct way. All this helps reduce the typical aches and pains for the wearer and the onset of physical problems caused by wearing high-heeled shoes, significantly improving balance and stability and consequently wearability and comfort; all to the benefit of better posture and neuro-muscular recruitment. An amazing idea that has caught the attention of the entire world. ‘The patent originates from an orthopaedic concept applied with biomechanics to the foot that is in an almost vertical position in high-heeled shoes; the higher the heel, the more effective it is, but it is useful also with lower heels or elegant men's shoes. We also have a medical certificate issued by Dr. Roberto Bevoni, an orthopaedic foot surgeon and top manager at the Rizzoli Hospital in Bologna, who also decided to invest in the project after being contacted. A scientific publication is also planned because no one has ever thought of this type of solution before; that is, transferring the load to the metatarsal heads best suited to bear it, since almost 90% of the weight when wearing high heels goes onto the ball of the foot and onto these bony structures,’ Goldoni says. Gait-tech® was born from biomechanical research, applying principles that take into account the anatomy and physiology of the foot and the well-being of the wearer as a whole.  Among the many accolades received is inclusion among the most relevant biomechanical devices for sustainability and health at the CES in Las Vegas. ‘The most important accolade comes from the first B2B customers who will adopt our insoles, leading names and global distribution. We can't tell you the name yet but the first one will already be a real coup and we are only a few months away from revealing it. We have also produced a mini capsule collection of shoes for sale online to demonstrate and allow people to try the first mass application of the innovation branded Diego Dolcini for GAIT-TECH,’ Goldoni concludes. No one saw it coming. Folly, but also a great deal of clear-headed thinking to do things properly. As only the best know how to do.

https://podcast.confindustriaemilia.it/

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