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Hands-Free, Reusable Shoe Covers that Automatically Wrap Around Your Feet When You Step On Them

By Rain Noe - May 7, 2020

in Sneakers

For tradespeople, farmers and others who frequently need to cover and uncover their shoes (to protect interior surfaces from mud or worse), disposable booties are an unsustainable solution. They're also a pain to take on and off. This reusable and automatically-wrapping design seems much better:

I've been searching for something like this for a long time. On our free-range farm, I inevitably step in the shit of some animal on a daily basis, and pulling my boots off and on every time I need to go back inside to retrieve something gets old.

However, these wouldn't 100% work for my application. While getting them on looks easy, getting them off requires a fair amount of manual manipulation…

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…meaning every time I removed these, I'd wind up with animal feces on my hands.

Question for you: How do you reckon these work? I figure inside the fabric is a polypropylene sheet molded into a sprung shape, with raised tunnel-like seams serving as hinges, and when you collapse the tunnels by stepping on them, the spring action is released. [Edit: I believe reader Kyle Lamson has figured it out. See his comment below.]

(Lastly, I was not able to find what company or designer invented these. There are tons of variants on the market. It's possible they were invented by a fellow named Joel Fersaci, whose Step in Sock model is featured in the video above.)

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Joel Fersaci

4 years ago

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Hello,
Rain Noe- Thank you for sharing our product and linking our website as I am the inventor and patent holder of this product. Unfortunately many have illegally stolen our idea/ product but can not figure out how to make it. In addition to damaging our brand and product, these counterfeits are extremely dangerous. I highly suggest not doing a DIY with a ruler or trying to make this product. We use a design that has taken years to make and source materials of the highest quality. As you can imagine counterfeiters use the worst materials possible to profit as much as they can before they ruin a product. In our case, they use what is called "Blue Metal" a carbon combination. This makes the knock-off covers extremely dangerous, if you remember years ago how slap bracelets were banned it was because they cut people. When this metal is stepped on it cracks and breaks into a razor-sharp spring with enough torque to cut through your finger. Step in LLC uses only stainless steel that is double as thick and shaped to prevent cuts, in addition, we have developed Patented molds that work in many ways to increase the safety and mechanics of the cover. In addition to safety, our covers work and we have sourced the best materials for the product. Starting with the fabric which is water and stain resistant using polyurethane coating over nylon and synthetic leather for the bottoms. I highly suggest anyone reading this to do their research, not only are the other "variations" illegal and damage a good product, they are extremely dangerous. We are going through the endless loops the major e-commerce platforms but you through but hopefully we will have all the illegal copies out of the United States by the end of the year. It isn't fair to both, our company and the consumers looking for this product that our legal system has allowed big platforms to deceive customers by stealing our pictures, videos, and even the wording of our website.
I wanted to leave this comment because I know how hard it is in today's e-commerce time to find the original creator so I have a lot of respect for someone who would take the time to do a little research and link your article to the official website. For future readers, because of so many copy cats out there, we have had to rename and brand our product to now STEP-IN SHIELD. The original "step in sock" and only cover that works can only be found on our website at www.stepinshield.com anywhere else is just a fake and dangerous and also a big waste of time and money.
Thank you!
Joel Fersaci

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Mike Nelson Pedde

4 years ago

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Rain: No comment on these (which do look challenging to get off) but for a quick trip into the house from the barn... https://www.leevalley.com/en-ca/shop/home/clothing/footwear/accessories/72614-boot-slippers/

Mike.

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Richard Kuchinsky

4 years ago

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Why not just rubber boots? This solves no problem.

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Kyle Lamson

4 years ago

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https://youtu.be/6N9uy5ClB5M
I'd wager they work the same as a slap bracelet. Thin spring steel inside with a concave shape along its length. When the concave shape is engaged, they are locked straight. When the concave is overcome they snap back to a rolled shape. A broken tape measure will do the trick for DIY versions. I bet you could add small grab loops at the end of each length of spring steel to be able to re-flatten the whole thing from the outside without having to put your fingers into the S**t covered inside surface.

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- Rain Noe
  
  Kyle Lamson
  
  4 years ago
  
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  Kyle, that makes perfect sense and I'm betting you're right.
  
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