Gales, a new footwear brand, has created the first line of Smart PPE Footwear for healthcare workers with innovative antimicrobial, waterproof and slip-resistant shoes. Founded by luxury shoemaker Rob Gregg, Gales offers the highest level of affordability, safety, cleanability, comfort and style in its class. Named after the founder of modern nursing Florence Nightingale, Gales was inspired by a personal experience of Gregg’s during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“At the beginning of the pandemic, a family member fell ill with COVID-19 and was rushed to the hospital where his condition worsened,” said Gregg. “Due to the incredible care provided by medical staff he recovered from critical condition in five days. I was so grateful to the staff and every healthcare worker that I looked for a way to give back. There are 20.7 million nurses worldwide, yet I learned there was not a single provider of protective PPE footwear—we put so much emphasis on masks, gloves and scrubs, but what about the feet?”
With more than half a decade of footwear design and manufacturing expertise, Gregg shifted his full-time focus toward the pursuit of building better, safer and more affordable protection for healthcare workers. The initial sketches for Gales were drawn in May 2020 and in August 2021 the first shoes will be delivered.
Gales crowd sourced developed its footwear directly with a community of healthcare professionals across 89 medical facilities to create an exact product market fit with antimicrobial, easy to clean, comfortable, stylish, slip-resistant and affordable footwear. As part of its development, Gales surveyed nurses and found that 52% of surveyed nurses said they are very or somewhat concerned about exposure to infection in their work environment and 54% expressed the same concern about bringing disease home to their families or housemates.
“The number one issue in infection control is footwear,” says Rebecca Love, director of Nurse Innovation and Entrepreneurship in the U.S. and Gales advisor. “As nurses, we come into contact with all sorts of patients’ fluids and those can leak on our exposed shoes, as well as track home with us. I am proud to partner with Gales and introduce this game changing shoe. Protective footwear in healthcare is long overdue.”
Gales are available for pre-order now, for $89.95, with anticipated ship date in August 2021. For more information, visit weargales.com.
