Why Now?
Answering the question of why start a running shoe brand in the midst of a pandemic. / By Scott Tucker
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o we really need another skeptical, about the world. I began to running shoe brand? A few question everything. years before the pandemic, 2. Running. My father started jogI thought a lot about that ging in the early 1970s, putting in his question, because I had an idea for evening mile around the neighborhood. how to design shoes by pace for better Good for the heart. While my running performance. was mostly around the soccer field and Starting any new brand, let alone runbaseball diamond (I was much better at ning shoes, is risky in the best of times, outsprinting my opponents than I was because there is so much out there already. The variety of competing Scott Tucker with his new Vimazi shoe. options is overwhelming. What could possibly compel someone who’s been in the run business for a long time, to enter the ring with the heavyweights? Answer: A scientific discovery. It turned a tantalizing possibility into an imperative and brought together three of my primary interests. 1. Physics. Back in the 1980s I was fascinated by the science of two worldly phenomena: The ozone hole and the greenhouse effect. I fancied myself an environmentalist and so I struggled through a graduate program in atmospheric fluid dynamics, thinking I could contribute to the health of the planet. (Side note: Both problems are manmade, but not related to each other.) The education left me with some skills in physics and practice in scientific research. But mostly it made me even more curious, and 52
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at throwing or kicking), I cherished the attention I got at home for running fast. And so it began. 3. Shoes. Life is rarely linear or predictable. By a million random collisions in the universe, 1995 found me happily working on trail running shoes for a little startup brand named Montrail. Talk about trial by fire! Fortunately, trail running shoes were experiencing a boom and all mistakes were forgiven. Few people will remember the Montrail product flops from those days, because, well, nobody bought them. But I learned much more from the mistakes, than I did from the successes.
An Epiphany In Running In another instance of random collisions, I had an epiphany while warming up for my 6 a.m. Tuesday track workout with my small group of high school teachers and crosscountry coaches. Early morning thought: Shoes could be designed by pace for better energy efficiency. Yeah, my mind had wondered! With a start, I realized that the forces under your feet should be related to how fast you are running. And since a shoe midsole can only react to the force positioned directly above it, I would need to figure out how the forces varied heel to toe and with pace. Not in just a general
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