With two Nike veterans now leading the brand, Superfeet is expanding from specialty running into industrial workwear, youth sports, and smartphone DTC — without abandoning the biomechanical science that built it. Three launches in six months reveal one thesis: legacy as launchpad.
Most shoes ship with an insole the manufacturer selected for cost, not fit. Consumers replace them at low rates, in low volumes, through channels that require either a specialist’s recommendation or enough foot pain to make the trip worthwhile. The category has been present in every athletic shoe sold for half a century and has never quite escaped its own niche.
Superfeet Worldwide has spent nearly as long building the science to change that equation. Now, with a leadership team recruited from Nike and three product launches in six months, it is moving to capitalize on it.
The pace of activity in the first half of 2026 makes the strategic direction hard to miss.
In January, the company began introducing two insoles designed for industrial environments for trade and construction workers. In March, it released Run Pacer, an entry-level insole built on the same SuperRev foam technology as its premium tier, explicitly aimed at high school athletes and consumers new to performance insoles and availabl at a lower price point. In June, the brand expanded its ME3D platform to allow custom 3D-printed insoles ordered directly from superfeet.com via iPhone scan, eliminating the clinic visit that the technology previously required.
Three launches for three distinct market segments in six months.
Nike DNA added to the team and a proactive strategy
The pivot has a clear inflection point: the appointment of Trip Randall as CEO in 2023, followed by CMO Mike Donnelly in April 2024. Randall spent more than 20 years at Nike; Donnelly spent nearly 23.
Superfeet has traditionally acquired customers who arrive in pain looking for a solution. Donnelly’s objective is to reach consumers earlier - before injury, at the performance-aspiration stage - and to connect with a younger demographic through channels the brand has not historically used.
The company is building NIL (Name, Image and Likeness) relationships with high school and college athletes, has sponsored , a competitive distance program at Jesuit High School in Portland, Oregon, and is expanding its roster of social media creators on Instagram and TikTok, according to Modern Retail.
The ME3D platform: DTC expansion without burning the channel
The mobile extension of the ME3D custom insole system is structurally the most significant of the three moves. Instead of requiring a store visit, the updated ME3D system brings custom insole ordering into the home. Consumers can generate a foot scan using a compatible iPhone, visualize the resulting model, and configure cushioning before placing an order that is manufactured in Bellingham, Washington.
Superfeet has retained the in store option for consumers who prefer a guided experience or use a non compatible device, framing the mobile launch as channel expansion rather than channel replacement. The arithmetic of that framing will be tested over time by specialty retail partners. For now, the positioning preserves the relationship.
More broadly, the mobile launch changes the competitive context. Smartphone based foot scanning has become an active development zone. Dr. Scholl’s partnered with FitMyFoot as early as 2019 to offer 3D printed insoles from a home scan. Fitasy has announced a scan to print process that captures foot geometry in both weight bearing and relaxed positions. German startup HEZO applies a similar approach to cycling footwear, according to 3D Printing Industry. Superfeet enters this space with the longest proprietary data record, nearly five decades of podiatric and biomechanical research, a dataset that newer entrants cannot replicate on a startup timeline.
Insole: A category that remains underleveraged
The insole market has room to grow, but conversion remains a real challenge. Most purchases still run through specialty and independent retailers, and the category can be difficult for consumers to navigate without guidance, according to Beth Goldstein, footwear and accessories analyst at Circana. As Goldstein describes it, the gap is broader retail availability and easier self-serve shopping.
Superfeet’s multi-front approach targets each constraint differently. Run Pacer at $44.99 in the US lowers the price barrier. The ME3D mobile experience lowers the physical access barrier. The industrial line opens a new distribution channel - workwear and safety retailers - where running brands have no presence and the purchase decision is often procurement-driven rather than impulse-led.
None of this requires abandoning the biomechanical science that built the brand.
All of it requires communicating that science to audiences that have never had a reason to pay attention. That is what makes Randall’s stated goal of seeing “every shoe in the world” powered by Superfeet read less like a CEO’s rhetorical flourish and more like a working hypothesis being tested through product.
