Every invention begins with a moment of irritation, a stubborn itch that won’t leave you alone. For Gregory Gerla, Founder & CEO of StrideSoles, that moment began somewhere between the tenth and the twentieth mile of an Ironman training run. His flat feet ached with each stride, and the orthotics he had spent nearly nine hundred dollars on felt like heavy promises that never quite delivered.
The pain wasn’t dramatic; it was constant. The kind that slowly teaches you how to endure, not how to heal. After months of trying stretches, generic insoles, and costly appointments, Gregory found himself limping through Europe, a student abroad with a pair of cheap Amazon inserts and a lingering question: Why isn’t there a better way?
He didn’t know it yet, but that question would mark the first step toward what would become Stride Soles, a company quietly reshaping the orthotics industry.
When Frustration Finds Its Form
It happened in a classroom at INSEAD, France, where Gregory was studying business. There, he met Dr. Zac Cartun, a physician fascinated by the idea of turning smartphones into medical tools. As the two shared stories, Gregory’s about orthotic pain, Zac’s about medical accessibility, they found an intersection neither could ignore.
Doctors, they discovered, were already using smartphones and tablets to scan patients’ feet. But no one had built an app to let people do it themselves. The thought was simple and radical at once: What if anyone could access clinical-grade orthotics, right from their phone?
That question became a blueprint. The two started working late nights, sketching workflows and testing prototype scans. What began as a personal frustration was rapidly turning into a digital healthcare movement.
A Legacy of Craft and Code
Gregory knew that technology alone wasn’t enough. Great orthotics were not just data; they were craftsmanship. That realization took him and Zac to Oberkochen, Germany, a small town known for precision engineering.
There, they met Dr. Dietmar Walter and Dominik Walter, a father-son duo whose lineage in orthotic design stretched back generations. The Walters were innovators, winners of the Adalbert-Seifriz Design and Innovation Award, and inventors of the first CAD-based insole milling system.
In their workshop, surrounded by the scent of leather and the hum of CNC machines, Gregory found something that would shape Stride Soles’ philosophy forever: the blend of human touch and technological precision.
“Every foot tells a story,” Dominik once told him, holding a newly milled insole up to the light. “Our job is to listen before we fix.”
That became the ethos of Stride Soles: to build technology that listens.
From Pain to Platform
By 2025, Stride Soles had become a rising name in the global orthotics market. The company offered a direct-to-consumer model that bypassed the long, expensive, and often opaque clinic process. With nothing more than a smartphone, users could take a 3D scan of their feet, answer a short clinical intake quiz, and receive precision-fit orthotics crafted by German podiatrists and biomechanical engineers.
The difference wasn’t just convenience. It was access.
Traditional orthotics could take months and cost upwards of a thousand dollars. Stride’s process took a few minutes to scan, and a few days to ship—at a fraction of the cost.
Each pair of orthotics was 3D printed using eco-conscious TPU bioplastic, finished with vegan leather, and optimized for biomechanical support. The process reduced production waste by 97 percent, merging sustainability with science.
Stride Soles was not just selling insoles; it was building a new pathway to mobility: a place where innovation met empathy.
A Market Ready to Move
The orthotics industry is projected to grow from $3.2 billion in 2025 to $6.7 billion by 2035, fueled by an aging population, rising sports injuries, and the increasing focus on preventive care. Yet, the industry’s traditional model—dependent on physical clinics and long wait times—was ill-equipped to meet modern demand.
Stride Soles filled that gap. By combining telehealth-style diagnostics with German engineering, the company offered an elegant solution for a growing problem. It became a brand that fit not only shoes, but also a generation seeking convenience without compromise.
As Dr. Dietmar Walter, Stride’s Head of Podiatry, explained, “People want performance and precision, but they also want to understand their own movement. Stride gives them both.”
That simple alignment, between care and control, became the reason thousands turned to Stride for their first custom orthotics.
The Art of Listening to Feet
Gregory’s approach to leadership is shaped by patience. He often describes his company not as a tech startup but as a conversation—between the body and technology, between craftsmanship and code.
He is not interested in moving fast and breaking things. He is interested in moving precisely and fixing things that have been ignored.
Under his guidance, Stride Soles built not just an app, but an ecosystem: podiatrist-approved scanning software, gait analysis algorithms, and custom manufacturing that operates at scale without sacrificing individuality.
The company’s success lies in its paradox—it feels deeply personal, yet operates through global systems of data, design, and delivery. Each pair of insoles becomes a quiet collaboration between user and maker, doctor and algorithm.
Innovation at Human Scale
What makes Gregory’s story resonate is its humility. He does not describe himself as a disruptor. He describes himself as someone who got tired of waiting.
In his words, “Innovation is often about impatience. About looking at something that has always been slow, expensive, or painful, and asking why it has to stay that way.”
Stride Soles’ innovation is not about replacing doctors but extending their reach. It gives everyday users the tools to understand their own pain and the freedom to act on it.
It transforms a smartphone into a diagnostic instrument, and a foot scan into a step toward better health. In a world where healthcare often feels distant, Stride brings it back home—literally into the user’s hands.
The Road Ahead
The company’s next chapter is already unfolding. Gregory and his team are exploring ways to integrate AI-driven gait analysis, predictive injury prevention, and fully biodegradable materials.
The vision is not just to create orthotics, but to redefine how people relate to their movement. To make foot health as intuitive as checking your heartbeat or steps.
The ambition is grand, but the heart of it remains personal: one man’s journey from pain to possibility.
Walking Toward Tomorrow
There is a poetic symmetry in how Gregory’s story circles back to its beginning. What once slowed him down now fuels his purpose. The blisters, the frustration, the endless waiting—they have all been translated into something enduring.
Stride Soles is, in essence, a company born from empathy. Each insole carries a fragment of that early struggle, molded into comfort for someone else.
As Gregory often says, “Every step should move you forward.” And with each pair of Stride Soles, that idea becomes not just philosophy, but proof.
Also Read: The Most Prominent Leaders in Foot Care & Lower Limb Health to Watch in 2025
