Mion Takes Bronze in Industrial Design Excellence Award Competition

Mion Footwear is the proud recipient of two Bronze medal awards in the 2006 Industrial Design Excellence Award (IDEA) competition, a celebration of the best product designs of the year. IDEA is co-sponsored by BusinessWeek Magazine and the Industrial Designers Society of America (IDSA).

The Mion Current Sandal was awarded Bronze medals for its design excellence in two categories: Eco-Design and Industrial Design within the classification of sport and fitness. The new Eco-Design category saluted those products that employ environmentally sustainable principles and solutions.

A jury of 18 leading thinkers in the design world spent many days previewing entries online and two days of intense, face-to-face evaluation and debate on IDEA, one of the world’s most prestigious design competitions. Judging criteria for each entry focused on five areas of industrial design excellence: design innovation, benefit to the user, benefit to the client/business, ecological responsibility, and appropriate aesthetics and appeal.

“This year’s winners shared a few things in common,” remarked juror Robyn Waters, founder and president, RW Trend LLC, and author of the upcoming book The Hummer and the Mini: Navigating the Contradictions of the New Trend Landscape. “The best of the best found a way to cut through the clutter and simplify product and message. The winning designers were able to tune into the hearts and minds of the customer, not just into the market trends, and deliver smart products that reframed entire categories.”

The jury awarded 27 Golds, 38 Silvers and 41 Bronzes, for a total of 106 awards. These were selected from nearly 1,500 entries.

About Mion Footwear

The Mion Current Sandal is for people who demand the highest level of performance and protection on and around water. Features of this unique sandal include: the Ergomorphic Footbed, which permanently takes the shape of each individual foot after about 12 hours of use. The Sculpted Super-Structure and Super-Structure Cord work together to ensure that the foot is held in place during static and dynamic conditions. Mion’s Gripstickâ„¢ rubber outsole provides superior traction in wet and dry conditions.

Beyond providing an innovative new product, Mion is committed to a path toward environmentally sustainable practices. While performance footwear manufacturing is not yet a “green” process, Mion is making every effort to embed its environmental philosophy into every aspect of its business.

Mion Footwear is committed to 100% renewable energy, its distribution center gets 60% of its power from on-site solar panels, the company uses recycled materials in all of its packaging and collateral, and Mion has created and launched the industry’s first Ecometrics label designed to provide visibility into the environmental impact of its products.

Mion’s pellet-to-part injection molded EVA manufacturing process generates 90% less EVA waste than the traditional process of compression molding EVA. And the company has developed a program that will allow it to use 100% of the EVA production waste in future products.

Mion is a division of The Timberland Company, which was one of the top IDEA winners from the corporate world, winning three awards total.

About IDEA, Industrial Designers and IDSA

The IDEA program fosters business and public understanding about the impact of industrial design excellence on the quality of life and the economy.

Industrial designers determine the form, use, features and interaction qualities of manufactured products, packaging and digital media systems. They study people at work, at home and in motion to create satisfying experiences with products from the kitchen and the office to the hospital and the warehouse, shaping these to fit their customers and to make effective use of industrial processes. In this way, industrial designers have a quiet but profound presence in almost everything people encounter during the day.

IDSA is the voice of the industrial design, committed to advancing the profession through education, information, community and advocacy.

For additional information on Mion footwear, please visit www.mionfootwear.com. For media inquiries, please contact KCPR at 970.259.3555.

MION FOOTWEAR IS COMMITTED TO 100% RENEWABLE ENERGY