Manufacturing

I can’t put it off any longer. As much as I’ve been admiring the scrap from our last OESH La Vida v2.0 sole forms (notice the beautiful outlines of some of the various size soles), it’s taking up premium space in the corridor next to the CNC waterjet saw. So after cutting off all the bigger […]

30 years ago today, Bob and I were married in a gazebo on the Upper West Side of Central Park in New York City. There were 13 of us there, including the minister and his wife and me and Bob. It was the first wedding I ever went to. Right out of college, we had less […]

At OESH we’re 100% dedicated to creating and manufacturing the very best possible shoe, all based on science and research. As it turns out, the new OESH La Vida v2.0, doesn’t give you any lip. Not just figuratively but literally. What do I mean? The “lip” of a traditional athletic shoe can be seen in the […]

Inspired perhaps by our recent awesome OESH infographic, the Washington Post just put together a little infographic of their own on the health hazards of sitting, interviewing a former member of my research team at the University of Virginia, Jay Dicharry, who is now director of the REP Biomechanics Lab in Bend, Oregon. Jay made […]

Ever since medical school, I’ve appreciated the value of a stethoscope. But it wasn’t until recently that I discovered what a “mechanics stethoscope” is. The machines we have here in the factory are big and can be fairly intimidating when we hear a new funny noise coming out of one of them. Most of the […]

These last few weeks we’ve had the milling machine, milling, the waterjet saw, waterjet sawing, and the injection molding machine, injection molding — non-stop. Well almost non-stop. There was a moment when the injection molding machine stopped injecting and we had to break it down to see why. It turns out that a steel nut […]

We are jussssssst about ready to get our heads above the water line in fulfilling your Holiday Orders for the brand new La Vida v2.0. Demand exceeded our expectations. By a lot. Possibly due to how cool they look (here are the Fiji’s): Then again, it’s even more likely that you know how well they […]

Any time I have to tinker with one of these cool guys in the factory I can’t help but sing a few lines from Michael Jackson’s Thriller. Because they’re called Chillers. And hence why I also call them the cool guys. (I know, we factory girls need to get out more). Specifically, what they do […]

So here’s a cool thing I’ve learned working at OESH. Shoes are designed and constructed from a “last” which is the standard form of the foot, differing slightly depending on the specific type of footwear a company creates. One component of the non-OESH shoe last, no matter the shoe style, is a medial to lateral […]

For years, shoe companies have been designing their shoes in just two dimensional (2-D) views and then relying upon manufacturers, who are often overseas, to interpret those two dimensional designs and then re-create them into three-dimensional products. As we understand it, most shoe companies still design in 2-D, perhaps out of tradition, but here at […]