Vibram Earns the “Prize of Prizes” National Award for Innovation at the Italian Senate for the Vibram Furoshiki The Wrapping Sole Project

March 5, 2019

The awards ceremony was held this evening at Palazzo Madama, in the presence of President of the Senate Alberti Casellati

This evening, in the Koch Room at the Senate of the Republic, the tenth edition of the awards ceremony for the “Prize of Prizes” National Award for Innovation 2018 was held, in which Vibram received the prestigious award from the President of the Senate, Maria Elisabetta Alberti Casellati, who was standing in for the President of the Republic. Vibram, which has been a world leader in the sector of high-performance rubber soles for over 80 years, has achieved this new goal thanks to its recognition by the ADI (Italian Design Association) as the winning company of the ADI Design Index Innovation Prize 2017 with the Vibram Furoshiki The Wrapping Sole project. 

The “Prize of Prizes” National Award for Innovation was instated at the COTEC Foundation (Foundation for technological innovation) with the decree of the President of the Council of Ministers on 7 April 2008, by permission of the President of the Italian Republic, and was created with the aim of improving the technological competitiveness of Italian companies. “We are extremely proud of this award and excited to receive it in as important a venue for our country as the Senate of the Republic”, said Paolo Manuzzi, General Manager Vibram, going on to add: “Vibram has always believed in innovation as a factor of success for Italian businesses. Our goal is to constantly offer the market new and original solutions, with the requirements of performance and functionality in mind”. 

The Vibram Furoshiki The Wrapping Sole project received the award for the development of an innovative Vibram sole which continues onto the upper to envelop feet of all shapes and sizes and in all conditions, ensuring a custom fit and an exceptional level of comfort. Inspired by the Japanese art of furoshiki, which allows you to wrap any type of object in a single piece of fabric, the Vibram Furoshiki The Wrapping Sole shoe was created from a Vibram XS City rubber sole, which guarantees durability and grip on urban surfaces. The fabric chosen by the company to create the upper is Sensitive Fabrics by Eurojersey.

In 2018, the Vibram Furoshiki The Wrapping Sole was also the recipient of the most prestigious award in the world of design, the Compasso d’Oro Prize, awarded on the basis of a pre-selection carried out by the ADI’s Permanent Design Observatory. This followed a string of other successes including the Compasso d’Oro International Award on the theme of “Sports – Performance and Innovation”, the “Grand Award” of the Design for Asia Awards competition 2017 in Hong Kong, and the Design Intelligence Award in the Excellence category at the China Academy of Art in Hangzhou.

A great success for the Italian company, a paragon of innovation and performance around the world. 

Vibram is the world leader in the development and manufacturing of high-performance rubber soles for outdoor and leisure activities, workwear, fashion, orthopaedics and correction. For over 80 years the yellow octagon that symbolises Vibram has been synonymous worldwide with quality, performance, safety and innovation in the footwear industry. With its international headquarters in Albizzate (Varese) Italy, Vibram produces more than 40 million soles every year, dedicates over one million kilometres to testing, is present in 120 countries and has manufacturing, research and representation bases in the USA, China, Japan, Brazil and Italy. www.vibram.com.