Karl Müller, the Swiss mechanical engineer who launched Masai Barefoot Technology (MBT) in 1996 and sold it 10 years later to an American investment fund, is about to launch a totally new footwear concept under the umbrella of his holding company, Karl Müller Science Footwear. He declined to elaborate.
The 58-year-old executive and his 25-year-old son, who has the same name as his father, are already making strides with three other product lines – Joya, Joysy and Kybun – launched after the sale of MBT.
The Müllers are going to sell about 200,000 pairs of Joya shoes this year. Joya is a derivative of MBT’s original concept of physiological footwear. This type of walking shoe uses four different insoles to provide a unique “joyful” sensation. The line has been complemented by an integrated Active Airpump, which creates a microclimate around the foot. Joysy is the children’s version of the Joya concept.
Kybun is a more comprehensive concept that encompasses shoes without an outsole as well as gym mats and treadmills on which people can exercize barefoot. The concept may be applied to other products based on the application of automation techniques to biomechanics.
Karl Müller senior has his own factory in the Montebelluna area producing 4,000 pairs of shoes a month on an experimental basis, with the help of robots. The production is going to be transferred to a larger factory in Switzerland later this year.
The shoes made with this system have been marketed for the moment only in Switzerland, but they have just started to be sold also in Austria, and they will be presented at the GDS shoe fair in Düsseldorf in March 2011 for international distribution.
Müller and a partner, Claudio Minder, made a lot of money with the sale of MBT four years ago. The sale didn’t include the network of MBT stores operating in South Korea, where MBT shoes were originally made. Müller is now considering the sale of the 160 MBT stores in Korea to the local importer of the brand. MBT shoes and scores of other look-alikes are now mostly manufactured in China and Indonesia.
