The minimalist revolution introduced by Vibram FiveFingers® has caught on even among the great names in Italian skiing. Thanks to the partnership between FISI and Vibram® - official supplier of the Italian National Freestyle and Snowboard Team – this high performance footwear with five toes has been successfully incorporated into the training programmes of skiers and snowboarders.
Born from the exclusive Vibram® know-how – acquired over 75 years of scientific and technological research – Vibram FiveFingers® has reinvented footwear, based on the anatomy of the foot, optimizing the biomechanical movement of the foot. The ultra-thin sole, constructed like a flexible glove and combined with the innovative creation of five separate toes, reproduces the sophisticated sensitivity of the naked foot, while offering effective protection at the same time. Thanks to these unique features, Vibram FiveFingers® footwear has become a must for outdoor and indoor sports and is successfully used today in the training programmes of the athletes in the Italian National Snowboard and Freestyle Teams, for proprioceptive training, balance and core stability.
Cesare Pisoni, Technical Director of the Italian Snowboard & Freestyle Ski Team, clearly illustrates the added value brought to the athletic training of skiers by Vibram FiveFingers®: “Many exercises are performed using the slackline, with the precise aim of recreating the instability that is typical in a sport like ours, which is based on balance, and Vibram FiveFingers® footwear represents an excellent tool for stimulating an athlete’s feet. Spending a whole winter with your feet enclosed inside hard boots can mean that the ability to receive the messages from the soles of your feet is at risk. Having the opportunity to wear Vibram FiveFingers® is a great help in restoring these sensations”.
Pisoni also emphasized the contribution made by Vibram FiveFingers® in the process of foot rehabilitation that athletes undergo in order to regain the correct type of movement: “Many athletes use tight boots that, over time, tend to squeeze the toes together. With Vibram FiveFingers®, their toes will find the correct distance from each other and this is the first important and necessary step in order to start using them again”.
Vibram® is a world leader in the production of high performance rubber soles for outdoor activities, leisure, work, fashion, orthopaedics and footwear repairs. For over 75 years, the yellow octagon identifying Vibram® throughout the world has stood for quality, performance, safety and innovation in the footwear industry. With headquarters in Albizzate, Varese (Italy) - Vibram® manufactures more than 40 million soles a year, devotes in excess of one million kilometres to tests, is present in 120 countries and has production, research and sales facilities in the USA, China, Brazil and Italy.
In 2005, Vibram® introduced its first finished product: Vibram FiveFingers ®, a revolutionary and patented glove-styled shoe, an unrivaled alternative to conventional footwear.