Why OAKA?
I have been ripping the soles out of my traditional dress shoes for the last decade trying to improve their performance without much success.
Dress shoes are the most health detrimental part of our wardrobe. The derby dress shoe was invented in the 1600's and hasn't changed since. The heel changes your gait, shortens your tendons, and causes foot pain. They're also stiff, restricting mobility and non-eco friendly.
I finally decided it was enough and worked to design a better option.
We've redesigned the dress shoe from scratch fixing all of the things we hated helping to improve health, mobility, and comfort by focusing on the active professional.
We do this by creating a faux heel that mimics a suit ready style while staying zero-drop. Using flexible and breathable material to improve mobility. The shoe is also a slip on, anti-slip, and machine washable.
The O-1 Sole
We developed a new shoe mold from scratch that gives the typical dress shoe look from the outside but in fact is actually a faux heel derived from special cut outs allowing your foot to stay flat to the ground.
Soft, Breathable Fibers
The whole shoe is soft and flexible for extreme comfort. The upper is made from flyknit fibers that helps reduce production waste compared to more traditional manufacturing processes.
Anti-Slip
OAKAs have an innovative anti-slip open tread outer sole that utilizes our specialized faux heel cutouts as a way to drain water out and prevent hydroplaning like you'd find in a traditional dress shoe without you being able to see the treads from the outside like with a sneaker.
Zero Drop
OAKAs have a zero drop inner sole. What that means is as you walk your feet stay flat to the ground rather than at an angle like with almost all other shoes. Most shoes, not just dress shoes, have a 8mm to 16mm height difference between the toe box and the heel making you walk at an unnatural angle and can contribute to changing your gait, poor posture, shortening the tendons, and foot pain. A zero drop sole allows you to walk more naturally and strengthen your feet over time.
Slip On
Laces can be necessary but are often just annoying to deal with on a constant basis, so we made the whole shoe an easy slip on.
Machine Washable
OAKAs are completely machine washable making them ready for travel and any adventure.
Travel and mobility are incredibly important to us and OAKAs ability to fold up and be flexible make them perfect for the road.
Being zero drop allows your feet to walk flat to the ground like you're barefoot. This will help correct posture and allow your feet to strengthen over time.