Being a SOLE RESEARCH TEST PILOT Is Risky!

Using any existing footwear is highly risky, because of its dangerous sole instability defect, as clearly shown below.  However, using the experimental test prototype BARESOLE^TM by FRAMPTON ELLIS^TM is also risky.  But, in contrast, only because the risk from first use in the real world is unknown for anything as new and completely different from what currently exists.

So, be forewarned that by buying and wearing the BARESOLE^TM, you are in fact volunteering to take part in a real experiment.  You will become thereby an actual footwear SOLE RESEARCH TEST PILOT.  As one of the first wearers of the prototype BARESOLE^TM in its very limited first edition – actually its first test production – you will become a true test pilot directly involved in the most advanced research that exists in footwear sole technology.  You are in fact taking the first step in boldly going where no one has gone before.

The experiment is the first public test of a new and completely different basic design for footwear soles.  Potentially a new basic paradigm for much safer future soles, the first with naturally safe stability like the barefoot.  It is the first real structural change in footwear soles in at least two thousand years.  And it is a major change, with drastically better lateral stability, as well as uniquely better comfort.  It is like no other sole ever used in any footwear.

Initial testing indicates that the new design finally solves the dangerous lateral instability problem that exists in all conventional shoe soles.  That sole instability defect has existed since at least ancient Rome.  But in initial tests the defect clearly has been eliminated in the new BARESOLE^TM, which instead has barefoot-like natural stability.

As you can see plainly in these pictures, A SHOE SOLE IS EXTREMELY UNSTABLE when tilted to the outside into the typical lateral ankle spraining position (which is as far as the subtalar joint allows the ankle to go).  Like a seesaw, the entire ankle joint and the bodyweight force transmitted through it pivots on the tiny sliver of a knife-edge of the shoe sole that contacts the ground.  The sole is inherently unsafe.  The opposing forces on the joint are far out of alignment, creating a powerful destabilizing torque on the tilted ankle, which unnaturally is supported only by the wearer’s ligaments and muscle tendons.

In contrast, A BAREFOOT IS NATURALLY STABLE when tilted into the same lateral ankle spraining position.  The opposing joint forces perfectly inline and directly supported by leg, ankle, and heel bones in a naturally interlocked position.  The bare sole enjoys a wide base of support, especially under the calcaneus or heel bone, as well as under the base and head of the fifth metatarsal bone.

BARESOLE^TM FOOTWEAR IS NATURALLY STABLE.  The experimental test prototype BARESOLE^TM has been designed with an anatomically correct structure to provide the same safe natural stability of a barefoot sole in the lateral ankle spraining position.  Opposing forces are in perfect alignment, so no destabilizing artificial torque.  No unnatural teeter-tottering.  Plus, the slides give you the protection, traction, and uniquely good cushioning necessary for the modern foot sole to cope with artificially harsh environments that are often underfoot in the modern world.

The structural design of the sole of the experimental test prototype BARESOLE^TM by FRAMPTON ELLIS^TM closely matches the barefoot sole.  The first true performance slide is shown here.  The shocking result is that it has far better lateral stability than existing athletic shoes, even the well-known athletic shoes endorsed and worn by professional superstars.  Truly amazing!

But be forewarned: any new design can potentially have unknown risks, especially a design as new and fundamentally different as this one.  As the first of its kind, it is almost certainly not perfect and could have a safety defect of its own.  Even a major defect, well-hidden in plain sight, like the stability defect its design eliminates.  At the very least, later sole versions will continue to be developed and tested, continually improving.

I firmly believe the BARESOLE^TM is much safer than existing shoe soles, but you must fully understand that you are among the very first to use these first experimental prototype BARESOLES^TM in the real world.   In your real world test, weaknesses may be revealed that were not anticipated during design.  The real world always has surprises.  So we want to know if you have any significant problems of any sort.

This is citizen science at its best.  Both the footwear industry (and associated academic science) failed utterly to do the unusually simple basic science to provide safe footwear for its consumers.  As a Sole Research Test Pilot, you can now prove for yourself and others what the industry either does not know or at last finally knows, but does not want you to know:  both that the dangerous instability defect definitely exists and that it definitely can be eliminated.

Finally, always remember that by wearing the experimental test prototype BARESOLES^TM by FRAMPTON ELLIS^TM you are one of the first users to test an entirely new and different sole design in its first public use.  You are literally on what is called the leading edge of an entirely new and different technology.  You are a true test pilot in sole research.

So please try to stay safe.  But our warning alone is enough.  We really want your feedback.  Particularly if you have any stability problems with the test prototype BARESOLES^TM, and most particularly, if you have a serious fall while wearing them that results in the need for medical care of any kind.  Please help us make the safest possible sole design! Please contact us with your feedback!