OUR STORY / 01

Two brothers. One useful question.

Why should a shoe shape the foot more than the foot shapes the shoe?

TWO BROTHERS ONE QUESTION FIRST OBJECT / FISSION.01
David Schlachter standing before a wall of diagrams
DAVID SCHLACHTERCOFOUNDER / PRODUCT

01 / THE OBSERVATION

The shape of the shoe did not match the shape of the foot.

David grew up around footwear and kept noticing the same mismatch. Many familiar shoes tapered the toes, raised the heel, and asked the foot to fit the silhouette.

Learning about wide toe boxes and zero drop reframed the problem. The opportunity was not to add another feature. It was to remove assumptions and begin with human geometry.

Larsen Schlachter standing at the edge of the ocean
LARSEN SCHLACHTERCOFOUNDER / MOVEMENT

02 / THE MOVEMENT

Movement made the difference easy to feel.

Larsen approaches design through movement. Climbing, surfing, training, and learning made the difference between restriction and useful support easy to feel.

His question was practical. Could an everyday shoe protect the foot without constantly directing it?

03 / SHARED METHOD

Question the default. Test the object. Keep what earns its place.

Abstract Chimp grows through observation and use, not a fixed mythology. The method is simple enough to repeat.

  1. 01

    Observe

    Begin with the body and the way people actually move.

  2. 02

    Remove

    Take away conventions that restrict the foot or obscure the object.

  3. 03

    Refine

    Improve fit, materials, and construction through real wear.

04 / WHERE IT LED

fission.01 is the first result.

A wide toe box, zero drop platform, flexible sole, and visibly stitched upper turn the original question into something a person can wear.

See fission.01 Read the design brief