Well Heeled Diabetic Socks
Read about this fantastic new product which is launching soon…
We recently had the opportunity to catch up with Anthony Green, Director of wellheeled.net to discuss a diabetic sock which he has been developing and plans to launch soon. If you or a family member have diabetes, or you are a health or fitness professional working with patients with diabetes, then this is a fantastic product to learn about.
Here is our interview with Anthony…
Tell us about Well Heeled and what the business and product is all about please.
Well Heeled™ was started by me, Anthony Green, in order to bring to market a safe and
effective diabetic and comfort sock that is of a high quality and remains true in design to my
professional health and social care background. The Well Heeled ‘ShapedUp®’ diabetic
sock, as that design will be known, was designed from scratch, with professional sock
designers and podiatrists to ensure it meets those high standards. Not only that, I wanted
the sock to utilise sustainable materials as much as possible, in the yarn of the sock itself
and the sock packaging.
What is your personal background and how did you land on this idea?
As mentioned, my professional background has been built by working within the health and
social care sector for over 20 years. Working within both statutory and private sectors,
including the NHS and Social Services, has allowed me to build my skills and values that I am
proud to maintain to this day, now as a registered social worker too.
I understand the health and social care needs of individuals in many different ways and it
annoys me that there are many health care products out there that are poor quality, poorly
designed and do not meet those individual needs in a lot of cases. This includes comfort
and diabetic socks. There are no statutory requirements around the diabetic sock industry
and this means there are many cheap products on the market.
This is where I came up with the idea to design and develop a sustainable, high quality and
continually evolving product that would be the flagships product of Well Heeled. This, of
course, meant working with professional podiatrists and organisations to make that happen
too which has been both amazing for the product and education for my own CPD!
What makes your sock unique and how do you feel people managing diabetes will be
assisted by your product?
As mentioned, there are many poor products out there in the diabetic and comfort sock
world. There are also some great products out there too, some very popular and some your
readers will already be aware of. Now, I’m not saying that my sock is a must have for all
people that have diabetes or foot related problems as that would not be honest nor
professional.
What I am saying is that it has been designed with the end user in mind – to be as
comfortable as it can be and to help individuals avoid further foot related problems, such as
ulcers which, as we know, in the most extreme cases can even lead to amputation. This
includes the gently cushioned sole, soft grip ankle/leg area and more. What I have tried to
achieve is to bring all the best elements of the sock design from research and feedback from
real users. It needs to last, wear well and also be able to be worn as a ‘normal’ sock from a
design and aesthetics point of view.
I also wanted to go even further. We live in a world where we are all aware of the climate
changes and increase desire to have products that are sustainable. From an ethical and
moral point of view, I also wanted Well Heeled to have products that are as sustainable and
recyclable as possible. To that end, the materials used include a new sustainable and
recycled yarn as well as the packaging being recyclable as much as possible. This will also be
an ongoing development topic as new yarns and sustainability ideas come to the forefront.
When does it launch and how can Podiatrists and the public buy them?
The design is in the final design and testing stage with manufacturing about to commence.
The current pandemic and regional distribution and manufacturing has been affected
greatly so the launch date has been pushed back to October 2021. For the general public,
the product will be available on the major sales channels, Amazon & Ebay, but also directly
from the Well Heeled website, where offers will be available too.
There will also be prices for clinics, professionals and wholesale, all of which are welcome to
contact me direct through the website to find out more and I am always available for a chat!