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Geox 'Breathable' Shoes Making A Move On U.S. Market

The Italian footwear company Geox -- which has more than 772 stores in 68 countries -- is opening two stores in Florida as part of an aggressive expansion. It expects to have more than 1,000 stores worldwide by the end of the year, with 35 in the U.S. -- more than double the number of stores a year ago. Geox is also sold in department stores, including Nordstrom and Bloomingdales.

Geox is known for its ''shoes that breathe,'' a patented design that features tiny holes in the bottom of the rubber-soled shoes. The concept allows the heat and vapor from sweaty feet to escape, but a micro-porous membrane keeps water from getting in the shoe.

"You can't be a successful global brand if you're not prominent in the U.S," says Mario Moretti Polegato, founder and chairman of Geox. Polegato, a third-generation winemaker, was in Reno, Nev., on a business trip in the early 1990s, when he decided to go for a run in the desert. Frustrated by his sweaty feet from his rubber-soled shoes, Polegato took a knife and poked holes in his shoes. He started Geox in 1995 with five employees.

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