History of the Inov-8 brand
What is the history of the Inov-8 brand? This brand was founded in 2003 by Wayne Edy born in Zimbabwe. He noticed a lack of trail running shoes in the UK market. From an early age he worked in the shoe industry, where he gained experience in the development and production of shoes. In Zimbabwe, he successfully applies operations similar to those used by Tomáš Baťa. He helped build a chain of sporting goods stores in this style, through honest and well-done work, and is tripling the size of that business. At the age of 26, he receives a number of major business awards for his work and leaves Zimbabwe.
For the next 14 successful years, he is in the Berghaus group , where he is involved in the development and production of footwear. Then came the crucial decision that it was time to start my own company, and thus Inov-8 was born in the North of England with the words: " I have a sports and outdoor background, I have worked in the footwear segment all my life, I perfectly understand production, business, I know the market and the environment, so why not start a brand dealing with the real needs of mountain runners? It was a pure financial gamble. I invested £30,000 in mold preparation and other machinery for a single model (the mudroc 290 still produced today). I was so confident in the quality of the product , that I had a container of 2,500 pairs produced without a single order." This was written in July 2003 .
The first model in which he put all his strength and hope – the Mudroc 290 – was awarded Runner World "Product of the Year 2003". This model is still in production today.
One of the first successes for Inov-8 was the story of the athlete from New Zealand, Melissa Moon, who participated in the World Mountain Running Trophy in Alaska in 2003. The shoes she had ready for the race were not grippy enough on the muddy track covered in snow. She then borrowed a pair of MUDROC 290s from another runner and won the women's race. As she crossed the finish line, she held her shoes up and told everyone that the shoes helped her win. It was the first podium of hundreds more with Inov-8 boots.
Inov-8 quickly expanded and entered other markets such as the US, where sales began to skyrocket in 2009 with its mountain running shoes. Since then, Inov-8 has continued to grow globally, with the business now trading in over 60 countries around the world, with shoes placed on hundreds of stages each year. They focus on trail equipment, their footwear has gained a significant spectrum of users, to whom they gradually offer other assortments such as clothing , high-end running backpacks , waist bags , vests and other accessories .
In collaboration with the University of Manchester, they developed a graphene-enhanced shoe that launched in the summer of 2018 and generated a number of accolades around the world, with some media outlets drawing comparisons to Nike Air and the Reebok Pump. Since then, they have expanded the range to include shoes with Graphene-Grip across categories for trail running, cross training and fast-hike. And that's really just the beginning. Graphene has unlimited potential, which they are constantly exploring to push the boundaries of its use in sports shoes, clothing and sports equipment.
