OrthoLite Celebrates 25th Anniversary With Record Growth

OrthoLite celebrates its 25th anniversary celebration in 2022 on the heels of back-to-back, record-setting growth years. Demonstrating the global scale and endurance of the company’s value proposition, 2021 was the best year in the history of the company – even amidst the various global challenges associated with COVID and other supply chain disruptions.

“Our growth is a testament to the brand partnerships we have forged over the years and also to the efforts and ingenuity of the entire OrthoLite family,” said Glenn Barrett, founder and CEO of OrthoLite. “As we celebrate the company’s 25th anniversary in 2022, we remain inspired and relentlessly committed to delivering better, more sustainable, comfort solutions for our partners and for the people who use our products.”

Mr. Barrett, a footwear industry veteran and entrepreneur, founded OrthoLite in 1997, when he introduced the world’s first comfort-performance, open-cell foam PU insole and forever changed the interior environment in the shoe. “From day one, our mission was simple: To help brands make better, more comfortable shoes,” said Barrett.

OrthoLite changed the paradigm for footwear by raising the bar for comfort, performance and sustainability. Before OrthoLite, insole materials were generic, commodity foams – a basic filler material that didn’t breathe, compressed or flattened out too quickly, and caused sweat and odors to accumulate. Barrett introduced the world’s first high-performance, open-cell foam PU insole that delivered a cooler, drier and healthier interior environment in the shoe. This new insole solution would raise the quality and comfort standards across the board for the entire global footwear industry.

The drive to innovate around comfort, performance and sustainability remains central to OrthoLite's story today.

For 25 years, OrthoLite has built itself into a global industry leader in ways that extend beyond its product offerings. The company set an early precedent in sustainable practices by prioritizing the use of recycled rubber, for example. To this day, every OrthoLite insole contains at least 5% recycled rubber, thereby preventing over 300 metric tons of rubber waste from entering landfills each year. 2022 will be devoted toward finding circular solutions in footwear.

Today, ​​as the insole supplier of choice for over 350 leading footwear brands worldwide, across all categories – athletic, running, comfort, golf, lifestyle, and fashion, OrthoLite insoles are utilized in more than 500 million pairs of shoes every year. With trust-based relationships through its global supply chain and production facilities located in countries around the world,

OrthoLite’s commitment to sustainable, circular solutions has an immense and measurable global impact.

Vertical integration has proved to be a competitive advantage for OrthoLite and its brand partners, as the structure allows the company to be more responsive and agile to market needs.

With COVID and the supply chain challenges, OrthoLite’s vertically-integrated structure has led to increased sales and more efficient operations. “We provide high levels of risk mitigation for our brand partners through our global scale, our production redundancies, and increased capacities,” Barrett explained

Looking forward, OrthoLite is optimistic for continued growth and industry leadership. The talented team is currently pioneering new standards of sustainability, while always elevating its own high standards of comfort and performance.

“Thanks to the tenacity and brilliance of our team, OrthoLite continues to overcome challenges through our continued collaboration and commitment to our brand partners,” Barrett said. “We see a better future for footwear, we will continue to innovate around both comfort and sustainability, and we’re honored to lead the way.”