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Made in Colorado (Spring 2024): SOM Footwear
SOM Footwear founder Olie Marchal’s entrepreneurial journey started with a sore back. That's why he created SOM Footwear, a "barefoot sneaker."
Eric Peterson //April 11, 2024//
Photo courtesy of SOM Footwear.
Photo courtesy of SOM Footwear.
Made in Colorado (Spring 2024): SOM Footwear
SOM Footwear founder Olie Marchal’s entrepreneurial journey started with a sore back. That's why he created SOM Footwear, a "barefoot sneaker."
Eric Peterson //April 11, 2024//
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All Made In Colorado’s featured companies have at least one thing in common: They all make products in Colorado.
It underlines the sheer breadth of the products made in Colorado. While the Colorado manufacturing base is not as established as places like the Rust Belt and the Southeast, it is also unconstrained by tradition and underpinned by innovation.
And that might be exactly what the domestic industry needs as it rides a winning streak fueled by the return of manufacturing from China and other overseas locales — no matter whether it lands in Detroit or Kremmling, Colorado.
SOM Footwear
Montrose, CO
Apparel
$148-184 Retail
Website: www.somfootwear.com
SOM Footwear founder Olie Marchal’s entrepreneurial journey started with a sore back. “I was a construction worker before, and when I turned 35, I started experiencing back pain,” he says. “The pain was caused by the boots I was wearing.”
That led him to make himself a pair of shoes “with a piece of rubber and some mesh I found in a thrift store,” Marchal says. “I haven’t had any back pain or other issues since.”
Now with about 10 employees, SOM (short for “Sense of Motion”) Footwear continues to make barefoot-style sneakers with the same philosophy. “I feel it’s very important to have a roomy toe box and the same feel on every model,” Marchal says. “We just use different fabrics and lacing systems.”
Marchal says “being creative” is the key to domestic shoe manufacturing, as well as a direct-to-consumer sales model. “It’s been steady growth. We can’t complain.”
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