STORELLI
SPORTS
SPEEDGRIP

CLIENT - Storelli Sports

EXPERTISE - VALIDATION & RESEARCH

IN BRIEF

Storelli approached Progressive with a concept for a product to maximise the friction within a shoe with a view to improving the performance of an athlete.

To develop the concept into a product we sought to answer three basic questions:

– Does the new material provide a higher level of friction between the foot and the sock, and between the sock and the shoe?

– Does this material insight translate into a use case scenario of the sock?

– Can the prototype SpeedGrip product(s) elicit an increase in the perceived or real performance of people?

APPROACH

In order to answer each of these simple questions, separate test methods were developed and tailored to give quantifiable answers to each:

– Mechanical friction testing to identify the difference between a normal sock material and the proposed high grip material, as well as a competitor product.

– Human use testing to evaluate the level of slip and ability to apply a force when changing direction through simple use case movements onto a force plate.

– Human testing to assess the level of performance increase based on agility testing, as well as feedback on human perception of performance increase across a range of parameters.

RESULTS

Working with Storelli to provide flexible testing solutions for the first question, meant they could choose the best material from their supplier. This could then be developed into a first prototype and allowed comparisons of friction when on a foot, to be further developed and the human performance parameters tested. The end result was a product that provided a higher level of friction within the shoe that left people feeling faster and more responsive.

"Athlete performance is the core of our SpeedGrip Socks and Insoles. Top pro athletes need to be confident that the new gear they are using has been clinically proven to be the better than what they have used to date. We love working with Progressive. Their approach to testing is highly consultative, enabling you to leverage the expertise of some of the world's best experts in whatever you are testing. The data Progressive developed for SpeedGrip helped us improve the product and confirmed that we are improving the connection between the player and the boot.

Claudio Storelli

CEO

Storelli Sports