Bite Footwear munches on the concept of custom-orthotic sandals

Bite Footwear can thank its golf roots for its latest line, the outdoor-styled Orthosport sandals. The company had already specially developed sandals with orthotics for two of its pro golf players who suffer from foot problems. And that got Dale Bathum, Bite’s president, thinking. “What happened was we started developing this orthotic idea to see if other people would want to put their orthotics in and there was a lot of interest,” Bathum told SNEWS.



The result was Bite’s Orthosport line, which has removable insoles that allow users to customize the sandals with Bite’s insoles or their own orthotics.



“We’ve developed the line so people can do one of three things,” Bathum said. “First, it’ll come with our own insert which is a highly cushioned polyurethane insert for a footbed. The second thing they can do is take out our footbed and put in an orthotic footbed. We recommend the Superfeet footbed because it’s more structured, more supportive and very comfortable, and it’s good for feet. Then, if they need to go to the next level and have it custom fitted for their orthotic, they can do that as well.”



Originally, the line was to have three styles — the X-Trac OS, Xtension OS and Sportstream — but Bathum said it would probably drop the Sportstream because it’s not getting as much interest as the other two styles. The leather X-Trac OS offers the feel of an athletic sandal and is designed for walking and watersports. The Xtension OS has a specialized pulley system that locks the ball of the foot, ankle and heel points to provide support for running and watersports. Both come in men’s and women’s sizing and will ship in March 2003.