Underfoot Comfort Defined, Quantified, and Delivered
Build Footwear With the Ideal Fit and Comfort for Your Customers
Provide a cushioning experience in your footwear that’s engineered for your customers’ foot health and delivers on their individual perceptions of comfort. Our ProvenComfort® method applies a series of biomechanics-based, academic-grade product tests, allowing us to benchmark specific footwear performance metrics that pair the right shoe with the right insole foam and shape.
Footwear Testing Rooted in Science
The ProvenComfort method is designed to give you objective, data-centered feedback on your footwear design:
- Developed in partnership with leading academic experts in the field of biomechanics
- Administered by an accredited team of INSITE® footwear biomechanics testing associates
ProvenComfort is part of our core service and the foundation of all INSITE product development. When we build your insole and cushioning prototypes, we aim to deliver optimal results for ProvenComfort testing so you can go to market knowing the comfort, performance, and support of your footwear is backed by data.
Tested by Real People – Just Like Your Customers
Using your demographic input, we conduct ProvenComfort footwear testing with real-world participants who match the specific profiles of your customers. You get relevant, market-centered data and analysis on how your footwear will perform underfoot – and can ensure the best wear experience for the people who love your brand.
Supplemental wear testing is available through our partners at MESH01.
Our Proven Testing Methodology
These data points together allow us to select the best shape, materials, and design for an insole.
Comfort Perception Testing:
Participants complete a 12-point psychometric survey after engaging in activities and movement relevant to your footwear. We measure their experience with specific aspects of comfort like fit, arch placement, and heel cushioning on visual analog scales, allowing us to identify significant trends in user experience that confirm your prototype performance or inform improvements.
Plantar Pressure Testing
Using high-fidelity wireless insole sensors, we create a dynamic visual map of underfoot pressure as participants move through relevant footwear activities. We analyze gait patterns, identify pressure “hot spots,” and optimize underfoot cushioning for better pressure dispersal.
Material Impact Testing
A computer-controlled impact machine simulates heel and forefoot strike, measuring the variables that determine shock absorption and energy return. Impact testing goes beyond standard material properties testing, informing how cushioning systems will affect biomechanical performance.
Lab Testing
We conduct the majority of our ProvenComfort testing at the INSITE Research & Design Lab in Los Angeles, CA in collaboration with a growing community of passionate, everyday footwear testers. We also use the R&D lab to conduct advanced biomechanics testing for high-performance footwear, including motion capture, VO₂ max, and force plate testing.
Field Testing
ProvenComfort testing can be conducted anywhere outside the lab from basketball courts to hiking trails, allowing us to collect real-time activity data. Our national offices connect us with diverse climates, terrains, and populations, so we can tailor product testing to even the most specific needs of your footwear category.
- Portland, OR
- Boston, MA
- Los Angeles, CA
A Scientific Approach to Customer Satisfaction
The ProvenComfort testing method is supported and informed by the expertise of our biomechanics team and scientific advisors. Shape, materials, and design selections are engineered to maximize results, helping your brand confidently bring new footwear lines to market that you know your customers will love.
- Benchmark product performance against competitors
- Make updates that evolve your products and move them forward
- Launch footwear backed by leading biomechanics science
- Increase product confidence through valuable data points
FOOTWEAR DEVELOPERS
Build Footwear for Better Foot Health
Partner with the INSITE biomechanics team and elevate your footwear to meet your customers’ demands for comfort, performance, and support.
TEST YOUR FAVORITE BRANDS
Join the INSITE Testing Team
Influence upcoming footwear designs from your favorite brands. We’re recruiting product testers in Los Angeles, Boston, and Portland.