VibramAt the start of the last century, mountain climbers wore what essentially amounted to wooden clogs on their feet. Soon, the first “tricounis” climbing shoe was developed, which featured a leather sole outfitted with steel cleats that improved traction on ice, but did little for rock climbers.
To learn about how Vibram changed the footwear industry forever, keep reading on the next page.
Italian rubber maker Vibram, named by combining the first and last name of its founder Vitale Bramani, forever changed the shoe industry by inventing the first vulcanized rubber sole. Vitale was an academic of the Italian Alpine Club, and his inspiration for Vibram, unfortunately, was the result of a tragic accident in 1935 which left Bramani’s mountaineering friends dead in the Italian Alps, largely due to poor footwear.
Bramani developed a new climbing sole in response, known as the Carrarmato (pictured in our lead image), which featured a tread design that Italian rubber company Pirelli applied on automobile tires. Soon after, with financial baking of Leopoldo Pirelli, the soles became a success and revolutionized the field of mountaineering. In 1955, the first successful ascent to the summit of K2 was made by an Italian expedition wearing Vibram rubber on their soles.
