Sparks, NV-based Arcopédico USA, the only US distributor of Portuguese-made comfort and travel footwear, celebrated its 50th anniversary on May 4 by announcing results of its shoe comfort research.
Arcopédico designed the 18-month Star Shoes Project to identify the sole comfort of a diverse, international population. More than 2400 customers from 19 countries received boxes of phenolic foam and provided their footprint to researchers at the Institute of Science and Innovation in Mechanical Engineering at the University of Porto in Portugal. The researchers analyzed the prints in several simulated walking situations, and through their observations, developed new plantar topography for Arcopédico shoes.
Arcopédico is scheduled to bring the Star Sole to the US market in 2017. Italian scientist Elio Parodi founded Arcopédico in 1966 with his invention of an arch-supporting sole, which became the company’s twin arch support sole.
