The untold story of the first Spingle, born from trial and error

Rolled-up sole derived from gym shoes

The most distinctive feature of the Spingle Move is its sole. It is called a rolled-up sole. Did you know that the rolled-up sole was actually inspired by gym shoes?

"This is a factory that has been in business for about 70 years, so surely there must be some treasure hidden there?" I thought as I was walking through the factory. By chance, my eye was caught by the rubber sole mold for gym shoes from 40 years ago...
"This is useful!"

This idea was immediately adopted as the design for Spingle Move!

However, it will take a long time to complete

Thoughts on Spingle's first model

The original first model was created with the desire to create a product that would become a classic.
Since it was going to be a staple, I wanted it to be comfortable to wear, retain its silhouette even after long wear, and have a slightly slimmer line with a European feel, making it a beautiful sneaker for adults!

...My dreams of becoming first baseman have grown even bigger.

Everything was a first-time development project. It was difficult to make the wooden shoe tree the way I wanted, and it took me three months just to finish the wooden shoe tree to be satisfied with it. When I asked the leather shoe craftsman to "make this part a little more like this...", he said, "Can you do that?" and flew the shoes to me (laughs).

The motto for the material was "extremely simple," so we used high-quality smooth leather that will develop its natural character the more you wear it in. We also spent a lot of time and effort developing the First, readjusting the insole and midsole midway through the process to improve comfort, and making changes to the design of the heel area.

When the final sample finally came out, the project team members placed the First on their desks and stared at it for a week. As the days went by, they gradually came to appreciate how cute and attractive the First was...

It took many years to come up with the perfect shape, leather texture, and fit, but this is how they decided to launch the brand with this model.

Although it was completed, it was not well received.

After completing the product, we went out to sell it, but we were at a loss as to what to do. One customer even said straight out, "I don't like the volume of the rolled up bottom." Nevertheless, we persevered and continued to sell it, hoping to get people to understand the appeal of this model. After that, we exhibited it at the International Fashion Fair (IFF) held at Tokyo Big Sight in 2002, and in April of the same year, it began to be sold at TK (Takeo Kikuchi)'s shop.

Gradually, this voluminous winding mechanism came to be accepted as the "face" of SPINGLE MOVE, and as originally planned, the SPM-101 became a standard model! The SPM-101 is the origin of SPINGLE MOVE. It is a model that we would like to continue making as long as this brand continues.

The legacy of First Spingle

The focus of our first model is still present in all Spingle products today.
The fit is excellent for models with rolled up soles, but even for models without them, we value our commitment to our origins and pursue comfort.
We also tried making shoes using materials other than leather, and went through the same kind of trial and error that we saw when creating our first shoes.
With the advancement of mechanization, high-tech products are everywhere, but we are committed to down-to-earth, handmade manufacturing, and will continue to make shoes, proud of the SPINGLE MOVE brand, even if we make many mistakes.