Fashion fanatics must recall Vibram from its infamous five-toed “shoeless” shoes. The company which had to settle a lawsuit after introducing its peculiar footwear has now announced to enter the motoring scene with its own line of wearables.
The Italian company enjoys a rich history, which includes being a part of the first successful summit of K2 (popularly known as the most difficult mountain to climb in the world).
Vibram’s sole business now consists of selling rubber sole to shoe companies, must be said that the company is gaining significant traction (pun intended) in the B2B realm with clients such as CAT, Danner, The North Face, and many others.
In an attempt to further widen its reach in other segments, Vibram is now eyeing the motor industry. Currently, Vibram offers a plethora of soles for different motorcycle boot applications, one of the most renowned ones out of which is the supermoto sole which includes replaceable pucks that are similar in concept to what was seen on the Sidi SRS boot.
Meanwhile, their offerings also range from the street and track boots, off-road boots, motocross, adventure-touring, and so on. Vibram is aiming to hit the right notes of all the segment of motorcycling apparels to catch the eye of some bootmakers, hoping to uplift its image in the industry.
If the boots were not enough, the Italians are also offering rubber items such as grips, seats, tank protectors and frame pads. In the current market scenario, Vibram could be looking at a potential surge considering the lack of a strong brand in this space that is dominating the market.
As always, time will tell, and it will be interesting to see what comes of all this. If anything though, we should say it is a good sign to see a strong non-endemic brand eyeing the motorcycle industry as an opportunity for investment.