2026 LaunchPad Top 8 - Footwear Innovation Foundation

Announcing the top new innovations for the footwear industry 2026
The innovators shaping the future of footwear
After reviewing 150 submissions from engineers, designers, students, scientists, and entrepreneurs around the world, the Footwear Innovation Foundation is proud to announce the top 8 new innovations for footwear – selected for their potential to transform footwear across product, retail, manufacturing, and supply chain. Finalists presented their ideas to a panel of footwear industry experts at the LaunchPad Elevation Event in Portland, Oregon on November 4, 2026.

Congratulations to these innovators breaking into the footwear industry!
Product Innovation
Mercy Akande
Formutis: Proprietary outsole geometries inspired by nature that give multidirectional grip on ice and oily surfaces to help prevent slips and falls.
Matteo Santoni
ReturnCell: A patent-pending 3D-printed cell structure, borrowed from robotics, that cushions impact and returns energy in the same step, which today’s midsole foams cannot do at once.
Brian Jamieson
Vigurus (Sp1ke® Technology): A globally patented biomimetic footbed whose nubs move with each step, turning the passive insole into an active surface for comfort, balance and foot health.
Anna Chiatti & William Andrioli
Eva: A patented modular sandal technology with a simple “insert, twist, click” mechanism, so straps and soles can be made, shipped and sold separately. One sole can carry many styles.
Retail Innovation
Anthony "Tony" Chiappetta
VouchPro.io (Chiappetta Shoes): A digital voucher and marketplace platform that replaces paper work-boot vouchers and connects employers, workers and retailers in one system for buying safety footwear.
Manufacturing Innovation
Gökhan Boduroğlu & Atila Ülkümen
CSC – Core Sewing Cell: An AI-powered autonomous upper-sewing platform that plans each stitch from the actual part in every cycle and checks quality before the needle goes in. It is already in commercial production.
Operations/Supply Chain Innovation
Luis Aloma III
Color Brain: A predictive color-intelligence engine that helps dye houses get recipes right the first time, which cuts costly re-dyes and color mismatches across the supply chain.
Stacy Y. Xie
Color Brain: A predictive color-intelligence engine that helps dye houses get recipes right the first time, which cuts costly re-dyes and color mismatches across the supply chain.
2026 Elevation event Panelists

Kevin Dodson
Global Vice President,
Footwear Innovation
Nike

Sara Irvani
FIF Board Member;
Board Director,
Oka Brands

Eric Goldner
Supply Chain & Global Sourcing Executive; Graduate Instructor, University of Oregon

Stephen Green
Executive Director, Business for a Better Portland; Founder, PitchBlack
About the Footwear LaunchPad Program: Why It’s Needed and Different
LaunchPad is the footwear industry's bridge to innovations from outside footwear. Through FIF, the program partners footwear industry executives with Liminal Group, a venture studio, whose experts help start-ups succeed, to identify new talent from non-traditional channels and to discover innovations not considered in day-to-day operations.

“Footwear has gotten so focused on today’s problems that it has stopped looking outside for answers. FIF's Footwear LaunchPad gives outside talent and ideas a way into our industry. In its second year, the program goes beyond finding concepts – it helps build them into something the industry can use,” said Andy Gilbert, Chairman, Footwear Innovation Foundation.
LaunchPad is an open call to anyone with an idea that could change footwear. Entries can range from a sketch on a napkin to a patented technology. Applicants submit a five-page brief on their background, the problem they are solving, the market opportunity, and where their
solution would fit in the footwear value chain.

During LaunchPad’s eight-week Elevation Lab, technology, supply chain, and business experts from Liminal Group helped each Elite 8 team pressure-test and refine its concept. FIF’s LaunchPad team then paired the finalists with mentors and industry leaders for early-look
sessions before the concepts were presented publicly.

“Selecting promising ideas is only the beginning. Innovators need support to develop them, and busy industry teams need more than a raw concept to assess an opportunity,” said Michael Seeley, Founder and Managing Partner of Liminal Group. “Our partnership with FIF brings together venture-development experts and footwear industry leaders to close that gap. Through the Elevation Lab, we help innovators clarify the problem they solve, challenge assumptions, strengthen their concepts and define a path forward. That gives both innovators and industry partners a stronger foundation for meaningful conversations about development, pilots and commercial partnerships.”
A snapshot of the companies the 2026 Innovators presented to:
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