OESH founder Dr. Casey Kerrigan was featured on the How I Built This with Guy Raz segment, How You Built That.
In the podcast, Dr. Kerrigan describes her journey from research to manufacturing in her quest to understand, then mass produce, a groundbreaking, healthy shoe. Listen below, or on the npr website.
“…and it’s comfortable. That’s the thing. When you step on our soles it’s springy. I mean women, they’ll smile, because they have never experienced it before.”
– Dr. Casey Kerrigan
Check out the “platform sandal with a florescent blue bottom” (aka our Flatform sandals) on our shop page, as well as tennis shoes and ballet flats.
If you would like to listen to more of Dr. Kerrigan’s story, visit her episode on the Spirit of 608 podcast with Lorraine Sanders. You can also check out what Dr. Kerrigan calls “The Juiciest Scientific Article I’ve Ever Written” which is The Race to Build a Better Shoe.
About OESH:
Casey Kerrigan’s peer-reviewed published research began at Harvard Medical School, where she received her M.D. It then continued at the University of Virginia (UVa) where she directed one of the most advanced 3D human movement laboratories in the world. Her research showed that the common features standard to virtually all women’s shoes from high heels and low heels to clogs and running shoes abnormally increase impact on the joints in the body.
This research, corroborated by others, helps explain why women have twice the incidence compared to men of disabling foot and knee issues. It’s been recognized by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the National Science Foundation and universities around the world. Numerous press outlets including the New York Times, Time Magazine and a full feature segment on ABC’s 20/20 covered Casey’s research.
By this time, Casey knew how to make shoes that were healthy. Thus she became increasingly frustrated with the fact that most of her women patients had disabling conditions that she could attribute to a lifetime of poor footwear options.
Not able to find a shoe company that was willing to make the shoes she envisioned, Casey built a factory of her own.
