Reprinted from BizJournals.com – By Elizabeth Hayes – Portland Business Journal.
One of the biggest health problems for children in developing countries stems foot wounds that become infected.
With poorly fitting footwear, or none at all, kids’ feet can get lacerations and become exposed to parasites and bacteria, often from human fecal matter.
This results in 300 million cases of severe illness from soil-transmitted parasites and anywhere from 10,000 to 135,000 preventable deaths, according to World.Mic, which cites the World Health Organization.
A small Vancouver company, headed by an ex-Nike manager, worked with the nonprofit Because International to engineer a clever solution: shoes that grow. These sandals expand by five sizes, allowing kids to hang onto them as their feet grow.
Gary Pitman, president and CEO of Proof of Concept, said it all started when he was contacted by Kenton Lee, a pastor and the charity’s executive director.
Lee had thought of the idea while we was working in Nairobi, Kenya with HIV/AIDS orphans and he saw numerous kids wearing shoes that were too small for their feet, according to World.Mic.
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Lee found his way to Pitman, who is semi-retired and works from home, to do prototyping for startup companies. He had a long career in the shoe trade. He spent 10 years at Nike Inc. in prototyping and brand concepts and managing a tooling and production operation in Southeast Asia. He followed that with a 12-year stint at Adidas.
But he’d never created a shoe quite like the one Lee had in mind.
“He asked if it was possible,” Pitman said. “I said we’ll brainstorm and come up with a way of doing it. It was harder to do with a complete shoe, which is why we went with a sandal.”
Using a 3D printer, Pitman said worked up several prototypes and rolled out 100 pairs of rubber and leather shoes that expand three ways. Lee took them to Africa. At the end of the summer, Lee ordered 3,000 more and just recently, another 5,000 pairs of shoes, which are manufactured in China.
Pitman said the charity is covering the materials cost, but he donated his time to the design. Donors can purchase a pair for $10 to send to a charity that is donating the shoes.
“I’ve done a lot of shoe products,” Pitman said. “This is one I feel like is giving back and making a difference in the world.”
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