Draft:INOV8

INOV8 is a sportswear company that designs and markets shoes, apparel and equipment for running, hiking and physical fitness. It was founded in 2003 in Northern England and has its headquarters in the Lake District.

The company is owned by its founder Wayne Edy. He sold it to Descente, a Japanese sportswear maker, in 2015 and then bought it back again in 2020. The deal to buy it back was officially announced in 2021.

History
INOV8 was founded in 2003 by Wayne Edy, a Zimbabwean-born entrepreneur with more than 20 years of experience in the outdoor shoemaking industry. He risked most of his savings to launch his own brand.

During the entirety of its first 20 years the brand was called INOV-8. In October 2023, the hyphen was removed, and the brand renamed INOV8. At the same time, INOV8 replaced its original logo of a foot-shaped number eight with that of a bird's talon.

As of October 2023, INOV8 also redesigned the shape of all their future footwear, focusing on a more natural, anatomical fit with a wider toe-box. It also removed the use of numbers in its shoe naming. The numbers had represented the weight of the shoes in grammes.

The first shoe launched by the brand in 2003 was the MUDROC 290, designed for trail running and fell running. It was light in weight and featured deep-cleated rubber studs, well suited to the off-road terrain in Northern England.

INOV8 designed its first hiking footwear in 2007, launching a boot called the ROCLITE 286 GTX. At the time, it was considered the lightest hiking boot in the market.

INOV8 entered the fitness market in 2009, firstly in the US, with a shoe called the F-LITE 230. The shoe had originally been designed for fast mountain running, but its lightweight, agile, grippy design also suited fitness athletes working out in gyms.

In 2014, the company won the Queen's Award for Enterprise in International Trade, reflecting its growth globally.

In 2018, in collaboration with The National Graphene Institute at The University of Manchester, it launched the first sports shoes to contain graphene. Infused into the rubber outsoles, INOV8 called the technology G-GRIP. Later, in 2022, it infused graphene into the foam midsoles of some of its shoes. It called this technology G-FLY.

Products, Awards & Sponsorships
INOV8 products have won many awards throughout its years, including 'Best Trail Shoe' for the TRAILFLY G 270 V2 in the Runner's World Gear Awards 2023 and 'BEST HIKING BOOTS' for the ROCLITE PRO G 400 GTX V2 in The Great Outdoors Gear Awards 2023.

The company sponsors a variety of runners, hikers and fitness professionals. Its first athletes were primarily fell runners and trail runners, but their roster has expanded to include ultramarathon runners, obstacle course racing competitors, hikers and fitness athletes taking part in events such as The CrossFit Games.