How it all began

Back in December 2020, I received a call from my brother. He was working on a high pitch corrugated steel roof and was having a hard time, constantly slipping and sliding. He asked me to make him a magnetic shoe so he could have more traction and walk with greater confidence. At that time, I was designing electro medical devices for a big tech company. My wife overheard the conversation and was like "Come on, this has to be out there already". After a quick search online she found that Cougar Paw had come out with the Steel Walker II®. We sent three pairs to my brother and his team (they live overseas). First day, they were amazed. I was like "cool mission complete".

A week later my brother calls back to complain about the fact that all of the three pairs had suffered severe damage. One had lowered magnetic strength and the other two had lost magnets on the roof, leading to sliding. I am not completely sure until today what caused the loss of magnetic strength. I do suspect however an excessive heat as the roofs or the inside of car can get quite high on a sunny day and most magnets start to loose strength above 140°F (60°C). Losing magnets was certainly more scarring as from one step to the next they will lose traction and start sliding. One of the crew member was so scared after loosing a magnet that he spent the rest of the time on the ground, handing over tools and preparing materials. What caused the magnet to leave the sole was the outsole being damaged after accidentally steeping on screw heads, metal sheet edges or whatever somehow sharp object on the roof. In fact, when the rubber heats, it softens and the first hit causes it to tear open. Cougar Paw rightfully warns against stepping on anything not smooth or flat.

What was kind of a trauma for me is that while my brother was on the roof, the guy next to him slipped and fall in a blink. The magnetic boots could not save him from falling. Unfortunately he was not wearing a harness or a fall protection device of any kind. My brother thought he was gone and feared he would be next. The man surely is blessed because he could have died and was not even injured. He fall in the mud next to a big rock. Was the shoe defective? Not at that time. However, the roof was still wet from a recent light rain and they ended up missing grip.

When I heard about that, I paused. I realized my only brother could have died that day or any other day from falling asleep roof as part of a normal day of work. He had a daughter which happens to be my god daughter. Well, you could argue that he and his team just have to wear harnesses. I would not argue against that. I just know that I was not able to convince him to wear a harness even after that day. He would say that the rope is too easily tangled or caught into something. He would argue that when working as a team someone else's rope might get in your way. He would even call the rope a tripping hazard. Well, I felt the point was not to be right or wrong. What mattered was to keep my brother alive. And actually, even wearing a harness, you can still get hurt if you fall. Holding a Master's degree in Engineering,  I knew I could use my skills to help him.

July 1st 2021, I quit my job and works full time on creating the best magnetic boot for roofer ever. Indeed, it was not just my brother that needed to be saved as 21,975 roofers and construction workers fall from roofs every year in the US alone! 410 of them never wake up. This is why building a company was the best path I could take to tackle this issue seriously. 

In the begging, I thought I could start making magnetic footwear in the next 6 months if I did well, in the next year otherwise. How wrong was I! To be honest, if I knew how long the path would be and how many roadblocks I would have to overcome, I wonder if I would have gone the same path.

After just a couple of months, I had a couple of prototypes that worked fine on flat steel surfaces. I sent them over for field testing to my brother. This is when I discovered the inherent differences between a flat and a corrugated steel sheet. While I had decent traction on a flat surface, I had a poor traction on corrugated sheet. Not only that but the shoes would leave marks on the paint as well.

I was back to the drawing board. I looked again at the existing magnetic footwear, the existing patents and their flaws. Durability was the main concern as the only thing containing the magnet was a layer of rubber on the outsole that could not withstand a cut. And then came the first good idea: anchoring the magnets in the sole from within. There had to be a way to get the magnet secured inside even if the outsole was completely gone under the magnet. How to secure a magnet to something? Using magnetic attraction seemed the most secured approach. Metal plates deep within the sole would keep the magnets in place while in the same time enhancing the magnetic traction. 

This was much better and I thought I had succeeded. I had some new prototypes early 2021 ready for field testing by my brother and his team. The first testing went well. I was starting to think about making the manufacturing process more efficient when I had some bad news. The rubber was wearing off quickly and ultimately would reveal the magnets. Even if they stayed in place at least for a while it was still pretty bad to have the magnets apparent. This could scratch the paint and would certainly not adhere as much. 

Back to the drawing board again. I tried reinforcing the rubber with fibers and kevlar pulp. Well, it turned out to be actually worst. The rubber would not bond well with the fibers which would weaken the sole. Then came the second good idea: using the magnet as a part of the sole that strengthen it. Well, a magnet is a piece of hard material that can hardly be cut, torn or pierced. What good attributes for a sole! All was to be found was a way to bond the rubber to the magnet. Well, you might be thinking about using some kind of glue. Looks good on paper but most glue tends to weaken other time with heat and flexion. Since liquid rubber is basically a glue, there was something to be done here. Shiny nickel coated magnets are pretty hard to bond. However, Epoxy coated magnet can be effectively bonded to rubber with much better results.

As I was getting bored of sending prototypes over for field testing and waiting weeks to hear back from them, I decided to do more wearing testing myself. Using a cutter, I cut the sole all the way through the magnets on two shoes. One was the latest prototypes and the other the previous model. I went for a hike. Yes, walking on the ground is certainly more demanding than on a roof. You would pick all sorts of metallic debris and stump on them at every step. There is nothing smooth or flat on the ground. At least not where I went. Very quickly I was able to see a difference. And what an improvement! The previous version had its magnet completely apparent. Like there was no rubber left behind them. There were no longer usable. The last prototype however was pretty much okay. There were marks of wear and tear but nothing serious. The cut has not expended. Even flexing the shoe, the cut would not even widen. 

During that time I had been working on patenting this innovative magnetic work shoe. I had some training on intellectual property from my previous experience. I wrote the first draft and submitted a provisional patent. This was back in April 2022. Later, I would consult with a patent attorney to cross all T's and dot all I's. I am glad I did as he was able to put the whole draft to the next level and even had some good ideas. 

Now that I had a patent pending and a product much better than before, field testing could resume. I also had enough confidence to offer some for sale. Customers were happy. After all, it was there first ever magnetic shoe. However I was not satisfied yet. It seems to me that the rubber I was using was not strong enough. I was concerned that it would wear too quickly. At that point, I probably had a magnetic footwear better than that of competition. But could I sell it knowing that I could have done better? I am probably a demanding person when I think about it.

So I set myself up to find a better rubber. I reached out to companies making rubber in the US, in Europe and as far as Malaysia. I received various samples that I tested for grip, resistance to cut and abrasion. Almost by chance, I ended up finding a company based in Colorado that had what I was looking for. Of course, more performance rythme with more complex manufacturing process. Higher mixing accuracy, good control of humidity and temperature and even vacuuming at a precise speed. It was worth it however as the rubber I use now can take up to 5-6 times more stress than the one I used before. 

On the design process, there has been some big mistakes like ordering a whole roll of rubber simply to discover latter that it could not be bonded to the rest of the sole; or using regular magnets while the manufacturing process requires to heat above their max use temperature; or getting my own CNC machine to cut metal pieces before I found a manufacturer that could make the parts I needed for less money and far better quality. I certainly have learned a lot but not just on the technical side. I have learned that what seems to be a good idea is not always the only way nor even the best way. I have learnt to pay attention to other's opinions even if they sound silly at first. Actually, the more silly it sounds the more valuable the potential insight. When I think an idea is crazy, it is generally because I cannot see what the other is seeing. Paying attention at that very moment allows to see a bit more things from a different perspective. 

Well, along with the downsides of navigating the design process, there has been also some good surprises. For instance, as I was optimizing the magnet dimensions to make them as small as possible, I also happen to get an unprecedented traction. So I had lighter boots because I could use smaller magnets but I also had three times more traction than the competition.

I thought I would be much sooner on the market. I thought it would be much easier. However, here I am three and a half years after I quit my carrer job, I am finally ready to contribute to make roofing safer. It is not just about the roofers, it is also about their family. All sons and daughters should see their father or mother coming back from work in one piece. This is why I did that.

I want to thank my spouse who supported me in that adventure and without whom none of this would have been possible. I want to say to anyone that reads this that achieving is not always easy but if you put your heart to it, it is possible.