Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Where did I find this?
Where did I find this?
Did I find it in the Doctor's office? Maybe a med student's desk? The ER? Nope, I found it here:
At Sole Technologies, makers of Etnies, as well was Emerica, es, ThirtyTwo, and Altamont Apparel. They invited us (us being a whole bunch of Mom bloggers and Me, the lone ranger Dad blogger) to take a tour of their headquarters. Which included a basic overview, a chance to meet Pierre Andre, the creator/owner/all around nice guy of Sole Technologies, and a chance to check out the only lab dedicated to creating quality skate shoes for all ages. Emphasis on all ages. We also even ere given the chance to take a little shopping spree in the company store.
Facility:
 
The most impressive part of the tour for me was the lab, and the amount of thought and effort they put into their shoes, and specifically their toddler shoes. They have this new line of shoes called grow with me, which allows toddlers to wear their shoes longer then, other pairs of shoes. They also did a lot of research into the shape of toddler feet, and how they differ from adult feet. They then completely redesigned their toddler shoes so they would fit better.
The testing they do is pretty impressive, they gave us a special tour of their Sole Technology Institute, which is a one of a kind lab set up where they test the amount of force a person takes when they a skateboarding, they test durability, and just about every aspect of their shoes. Take a look:
 
 
If you take a closer look at the skate boarder you'll notice he is wearing a special suit, this allows special motion sensor camera's to pick up movement in specific places on his body so they can track impact points and how his body moves on impact. On the floor is an impact sensor so that they tell the amount of impact is generated on landing (Up to 17 times your body weight!). Through these bits of tech, and the durability testing they do they develop new technology that increases the amount of time you can wear their shoes (minimum 2500 kick flips) and decreases the amount of stress your body take when you are pulling epic tricks.
All in all pretty darn cool. Also, they are super family friendly there. Not only did they set up child care for free, but they also had special food at lunch just for the kiddos, they really took the time to think of them. They also took the time to take care of our readers too! They have given us a promo code just for our readers here at OC family, they've hook us up with $10 off for every $40 spent on etnies.com and free shipping! Just type in "ETNIES FAMILY" and you'll get the hook-up. The promo will run from Nov.17 to Dec. 4th. So check it out! |
Disclosure: Bloggers are often provided with free products, services and "experiences" from companies for the purpose of testing and reviewing them in a blog post. Any product mentioned in the blog posts of ocfamily.com may have been offered at no cost to the blogger.
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