AMBUSH Trip to Sole Tech STI Lab 7/24/08
Ben, Charlie, Jordan, and Paul recently had the opportunity to vist
Sole Tech the makers of 32, Altamont, Emerica, éS, and Etnies.
This is the R&D building which houses the showrooms for all the brands.
It also happens to be one
of the greenest buildings in California, the entire roof is covered with solar
panels generating
enough energy to be completly off the grid. Sole Tech is pioneering solutions
in
Environmental Initiatives, to read more about what they are doing click
here.
We got a sneak peak at all the new stuff coming out from Emerica, éS, and Etnies.
All of our meals were catered, we ate really well.
Sole Tech has their own BioMechanics lab where they do all kinds of test
to ensure
better fit and protection for your feet. They showed us all kinds of cool
machines
and testing procedures, that they perform when making your shoes.
By the way Sole tech
is the only company that does this.
This is a Motion Capture suit similar to how they make the video games,
but they use the data
to analyze how your body moves when your skateboarding; helping them in their
quest to make
better skateboard shoes.
All those dots on the screen are the balls on that suit, we were able to
watch the movements
as he was perfoming them. This thing was wild, very hi-tech.
This test shows the impact of ollieing or jumping down eight stairs. It
is pretty amazing what
types of data they can analyze in this lab.
Here is another machine that replicates the impact on the sole when jump
down something.
Here are a few of the different gel inserts that Sole Tech uses in their soles.
Here are some of the shoes they are currently testing.
An overview or the facility.
Super fun mini ramp.
Ben and Jordan getting their skate on.
Bad photo of Ben doing a wall ride.
To find out more about the STI Lab and their research check out it's website. www.stilab.com
They guys at Sole Tech showed us a really good time, it was great experience.
A big thanks to Aaron, Lance, and Vince for putting up with us.
http://emericaskate.com/
http://esfootwear.com/
http://etnies.com/