Shoe Socks are here, and before you brush them off as just another strange trend (Vibram Five Fingers anyone?), read on. Handmade in Europe, the lightweight footwear “Skinners” was developed in 2015 by Petr Prochazka. The “aha moment” came when Prochazka’s friend injured his foot and could not wear regular shoes for a planned paddling trip. Prochazka took a travel sewing kit and created the first prototype …Two years later, the proprietary blend of comfort and technology was launched to the world via a Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign. In just 44 days, customers from all over the world pre-ordered more than 17,000 pairs, making Skinners the most successful footwear project in crowdfunding history.
Developed by Skinners Technologies, new Skinners represent a completely new type of footwear designed for travel and sports enthusiasts. The patented minimalistic shape combines the comfort of socks with the essential protection of a shoe, providing creating the feel of a “second skin.“ Skinners can either be used as primary footwear for countless of outdoor or indoor activities.
Skinners are the perfect cozy camp slipper or apres-hike shoe. They could be used for heading to the gym, running to the market, resting on a transatlantic flight, or even for water use for beachgoers, boaters and anglers.
Uniquely designed, this new lightweight sock shoe consists of the seamless antibacterial StretchKnitTM and thin yet resistant underside coated with anti-abrasive Swedish polymers. Despite its 2mm thickness, each pair is engineered to last around 650 km ( 400 miles) and will easily stand up to being laundered in the washing machine.
Active people today tend to have shoe racks full of different kinds of shoes—whether they’re for running, cycling, climbing, or hiking. While all this footwear enables users to enhance performance and move faster, it is sometimes at the expense of comfort, convenience, or even safety.
The Skinners sock shoe, developed by Skinners Technologies, present a completely new type of footwear designed for travel and sports enthusiasts. Their patented minimalistic shape combines the comfort of socks with the essential protection of shoes, providing an ultimate “second skin“ feeling. Thanks to its compact size Skinners can be used as primary or backup footwear for countless of outdoor or indoor activities.
“We wanted to create footwear that is compact, comfortable and protective at the same time – kind of a Swiss Army knife among the shoes – footwear you can literally put in the pocket and use when needed. Wearing Skinners also thoroughly activates your feet muscles and tendons, and leads to more effective training,“ explains Petr Prochazka, the inventor of Skinners and CEO of Skinners Technologies.
The sock shoes are not here to replace specialized footwear, but to compensate what the feet lost by frequent use of it. “We’re not saying runners should throw away their $150 shoes and start running in Skinners once and for all. Skinners are meant to be used occasionally as a training tool on soft surfaces to better understand how the body works and to increase proprioception” shares Prochazka as one of the use cases.
Whether moving around camp after a day on the water, stand-up paddleboarding, on the dock, users of Skinners benefit from its unique design and protection. The lightweight sock shoe consists of the seamless antibacterial StretchKnitTM and thin, yet resistant underside coated with anti-abrasive Swedish polymers. Despite its 2mm thickness, every pair lasts around 650 km (eq. 400 miles) and can be easily washed in the washing machine without any fear of disintegrating.
“I was surprised something like Skinners was not already on the market…So on that very evening, I took a travel sewing kit from my mom and stitched together the first prototype,“ says 29-year-old founder.
Since then the company launched a more than successful crowdfunding campaign, collecting over two million dollars for further expansion and development and won several design awards including,the prestigious Red Dot in 2017.
Award-Winning Design
Skinners, the manufacturer of these ultraportable sock shoes, is a recipient of the prestigious Red Dot Design Award. Out of 5,500 projects, a jury of 39 professionals granted Skinners one of the major awards for innovative design, high quality, and functional properties. The award-winning product is designed primarily for active people as a backup footwear for sports and travel.
Skinners are manufactured in the Czech Republic using a patented waste-free technology. Since late 2016, the company, without any external investors, sold more than 150,000 pairs of Skinners to customers in 120 countries worldwide. Now you can check them out for yourself and see what applications you can find for them.