Designer's Diary #004 - Why We Started With Health

When Health Became More Important Than Shoes

People often assume Wingate Studio exists because I wanted to design a better shoe. Whilst that's partly true, it isn't really where the story begins. If I'm honest, the shoes almost came second. The real story started with my relationship with health and movement, and how that gradually changed over the last few years. Looking back now, I can see that Wingate Studio was never really about footwear at all. It was about finding a way to help people enjoy moving more and appreciate just how incredible the human body really is.

I've always loved being active. Ever since I was young, movement has simply been part of who I am. Whether it was running, swimming, playing netball, walking my Labrador Emma through the New Forest or more recently spending time in the gym, I've never been someone who enjoys sitting still for very long. Exercise was never something I forced myself to do because I felt guilty. It was where I relaxed, where I thought most clearly and, perhaps without realising it at the time, where I felt most like myself.

At the same time, I was building a career in footwear. After studying Footwear Design at Cordwainers, I spent more than twenty-five years working with some fantastic brands, helping to design and develop shoes that would eventually be worn by thousands of people. It has always been an industry that fascinated me. I still catch myself looking at people's shoes in cafés or airports, wondering how they've been made, what leather they've used or why a particular sole has been chosen – or why the heck the designer did that particular thing…. Once you've spent that long designing footwear, I don't think that curiosity ever really leaves you.

For most of my career, though, those two parts of my life stayed surprisingly separate. My work was about designing shoes, while my personal life revolved around movement, sport and trying to stay healthy. I never really questioned whether those worlds should overlap. Shoes were shoes, and exercise was exercise. It simply never occurred to me that one might eventually reshape the other.

That began to change after I tore my calf playing netball. Like most people who get injured, my immediate concern was getting back to doing the things I enjoyed as quickly as possible. I started reading about rehabilitation, strength training and recovery, trying to understand not only how to heal the injury but also why it had happened in the first place. The deeper I went, the more I realised that the body doesn't really work in isolation. A sore calf wasn't just about a calf. It was connected to strength, balance, movement patterns and the way the whole body worked together.

Around the same time, I found myself becoming much more interested in strength training. Not because I wanted to lift the heaviest weights in the gym, but because I began to appreciate what being physically strong actually gives us. Strength isn't really about the numbers on a barbell. It's about carrying your shopping without thinking twice, climbing a hill on holiday without worrying whether you'll make it to the top, playing with your children or grandchildren, and staying independent for as long as possible. The older I've become, the more I've realised that health isn't about chasing perfection. It's about giving yourself the best possible chance of continuing to enjoy life for decades to come. Then, earlier this year, life interrupted all of those plans.

Just as Wingate Studio was beginning to become a reality, early 2026, I was diagnosed with breast cancer…. Of all things! Thankfully, my prognosis was good and, after surgery, I'm now looking firmly towards the future. Like anyone who's been through something similar, however, it forced me to stop and reassess what really mattered. Suddenly, the things I'd previously measured my health by didn't seem nearly as important. Running a faster 5K or lifting a little more weight became far less significant than simply having the opportunity to live a long, active and healthy life.

That experience didn't change who I was, but it did change how I thought. I stopped seeing movement purely as exercise and started seeing it as one of the greatest investments I could make in my future. Walking wasn't just about getting my steps in; it became time to think, breathe and appreciate being able to move. Strength training wasn't about performance; it became about building resilience. Healthy habits stopped feeling like things I ought to do and started feeling like small acts of kindness towards my future self.

Looking back now, I realise that this was the point where Wingate Studio quietly changed direction. I thought I was building a footwear company, but in reality I was beginning to build something much bigger. The shoes would always be important, but they were no longer the destination. They had become the vehicle for encouraging healthier movement, one small step at a time.

That naturally led me to another question, one that I probably should have asked much earlier in my career. If movement is so important to our health, why had I spent twenty-five years designing shoes without ever truly understanding the incredible piece of engineering sitting inside them?

That question would take me somewhere I never expected.

 

Why We Chose Barefoot Principles

Once I'd started looking at health differently, I found myself looking at footwear through a completely different lens as well. For the first time in my career, I wasn't just thinking about the shoe itself. I was thinking much more about the foot inside it. After more than twenty-five years in the footwear industry, that probably sounds like a strange thing to admit, but it's true. I'd spent years thinking about materials, trends, construction methods, lasts and manufacturing techniques, yet I'd never really stopped to appreciate the remarkable piece of engineering every shoe is designed to protect.

The more I read about biomechanics and natural movement, the more fascinated I became. Conversations with physiotherapists, podiatrists, chiropractors and strength coaches all reinforced the same message from slightly different angles. Healthy movement starts from the ground up, and our feet play a far bigger role than most of us ever realise. They aren't simply there to keep us upright. They're constantly adapting to the ground beneath us, absorbing impact, helping us balance and providing the foundation for almost every movement we make. It suddenly seemed odd that we spend so much time strengthening our arms, legs and core, yet rarely think about strengthening or even understanding our feet until something starts to hurt.

As I learnt more about foot health, I also began asking different questions as a footwear designer. Instead of wondering how much support or cushioning I could build into a shoe, I became interested in how a shoe could allow the foot to move more naturally. That distinction might sound subtle, but for me it completely changed the design process. Rather than asking the shoe to do all the work, I became curious about how we could allow the foot to do more of what it was already designed to do.

That curiosity eventually led me to the principles behind barefoot footwear. What appealed to me wasn't that barefoot shoes claimed to be revolutionary, but that they encouraged me to think differently. A wide toe box allows the toes to spread naturally rather than being squeezed together. A flexible sole allows the foot to bend and adapt to different surfaces instead of holding it rigid. A level platform from heel to toe encourages a more natural standing position and walking gait. None of those ideas felt extreme. In many ways, they simply felt logical.

The challenge was that I couldn't find many barefoot shoes that reflected the kind of footwear I wanted to wear myself. Some were technically excellent but looked too utilitarian for everyday life. Others embraced natural movement but were, well… too fugly to enjoy the benefits. After spending my career designing footwear for mainstream brands, I knew there had to be another way. Surely it should be possible to create a shoe that respected the principles of natural movement without looking like a specialist product.

That became the challenge behind Wingate Studio. We wanted to design footwear that people would choose because they loved the way it looked, then continue wearing because they loved the way it felt. To me, good design has never been about adding more features for the sake of it. It's about understanding what really matters and removing everything that doesn't. The best products often feel wonderfully simple, but achieving that simplicity usually takes an extraordinary amount of thought.

I should also say that I don't believe barefoot shoes are the right answer for everyone, and I certainly don't think people should throw away every pair of shoes they own overnight. Like strength training, running or any other positive change we make for our health, adapting takes time. Stronger feet are built gradually, and everyone's starting point is different. I also think it's important to keep a sense of perspective. Most of us try to eat a healthy, balanced diet, but that doesn't mean the occasional slice of cake or glass of wine undoes all the good choices we make the rest of the week. I feel exactly the same way about footwear. Wearing your favourite heels, smart dress shoes or boots for a special occasion isn't going to undo the benefits of spending most of your time in shoes that allow your feet to move more naturally. Life is there to be enjoyed, and I don't think healthy living should ever become so rigid that we forget that. That's why I'm much more interested in encouraging curiosity than making bold claims. If people simply start asking questions about how their shoes feel, how their feet move and whether they're still comfortable after a full day's walking, then I think that's a really positive step in itself.

Ultimately, that's why Wingate Studio exists. Yes, we're designing barefoot footwear, but our purpose has become much bigger than the products we make. We want to encourage people to enjoy walking again, spend more time outdoors, build healthier habits and appreciate the incredible bodies they already have. If our shoes become part of that journey, then that's wonderful, but they're only one small piece of a much bigger picture.

We're not trying to convince everyone to wear barefoot shoes.

We're trying to encourage people to think more carefully about how they move, how they look after their feet and how the small decisions they make every day influence their long-term health. If that inspires someone to walk a little further, take the dog out instead of reaching for the car keys or simply become more curious about the foundations of their own movement, then I think we've achieved something far more meaningful than simply creating another footwear brand.

That's what Stronger Every Step has come to mean for me. It isn't simply the strapline beneath our logo; it's a reminder that healthier lives are rarely transformed by one dramatic decision. More often, they're shaped by hundreds of small choices, made consistently over time, each one taking us a little closer to where we want to be.

Jo Martinez
Founder | Wingate Studio

Stronger Every Step.