Portland, Oregon, USA
Former Nike, Jordan, and Converse designer Michael DiTullo collaborates with Drew Linth, former Nike developer, and Dr. Jason Hanf, one of the country’s leading podiatrists and experts on DFUs to create a medical shoe that could prevent more than 80,000 amputations per year and at the same time be fashionable mimicking Jordan high-tops.
Footdefender has recently been awarded a 2022 Good Design Award by The Chicago Athenaeum: Museum of Architecture and Design and The European Centre for Architecture Art Design and Urban Studies.
Every 30 seconds someone loses a limb due to complications with diabetes, a condition that is 100% preventable.
From 2009 to 2015 lower extremity amputations for diabetic patients increased by 50%. Approximately 33 million Americans have diabetes, 3.3 million have Diabetic Foot Ulcers (DFUs) and 24% of those DFUs will lead to amputation in 6 -18 months.
This is unacceptable. Currently prescribed leg braces are designed for fractures and sprains and do not alleviate pressure on the bottom of the foot.
The Footdenfender works by reducing pressure on the bottom of the foot through a combination of locking the ankle at a specific angle, negative heel drop raising the balls of the feet, and a proprietary viscoelastic material under the foot called Absorbium.
Alleviating pressure is critical to heel DFUs and prevents amputations.
In addition to being functionally superior, the Footdefender is easy to put on and take off due to its unique removable spat design.
Lastly, the Footdefender looks more like an athletic shoe and less like a medical device to reduce the visual stigma of needing to wear the product.
Unused products fail 100% of the time so we designed the Footdefender to be acceptable to be worn daily until the patient is healed.
The Footdefender was designed and developed by Dr. Jason Hanft, , Drew Linth, and designer Michael DiTullo over a 4 year period of rigorous testing and clinical trials. Launched late in 2021 the Footdefender is already in use in some of the biggest diabetes clinics in the United States and helping to prevent amputations.
Project: Footdefender
Designers: Michael DiTullo LLC.
Lead Designers: Michael DiTullo, Drew Linth, and Dr. Jason Hanft
Manufacturer: Defender Operations LLC.
