Written by Helena Kaufman
A good business idea and the spark that ignites its success are always of interest. The Afro News recently met the man behind the GEOX world wide phenomenon. He was in Vancouver to open a new store in Pacific Centre Mall. It is the only concept store of its kind carrying the company’s line of shoes and now clothes outside of Milan, Italy.
Mario Moretti Polegato planned to follow in the footsteps of three generations of Italian wine makers. Everything changed in the early 1990’s when after a day of promoting the family’s Villa Sandi wines; he took a walk in a Nevada desert. Walking in the rubber bottomed sneakers he put on, is where the idea for the world’s first breathable rubber sole was born.
“The heat was so intense and my feet were sweating so badly that I took out my knife and cut holes on either side of the soles,” said Polegato. “I was so uncomfortable and this venting did little to relieve my suffering or the flow of perspiration.”
Polegato pursued his quest for a sole that might eliminate the poor hygiene and discomfort that comes with sweaty feet. He devised a membrane that was at once impermeable and breathable – a first. None of the big athletic shoe industry players would take on his idea. “Like any inventor,” says Polegato, “I wanted my creation realized. It was not my intention to go into the shoe business, but I had no choice.”
