In 2006, Paul Siragusa worked on the Crease Preventer Shoe Insert with a former partner and submitted it for U.S. Patent Approval (Patent Application 20080148607). The concept was sound, but Paul found it to be inadequate for protecting the entire toe box of the shoe. The concept did not account for the midsole or side walls of the toebox, leaving them unprotected and the product ineffective without the shoe being worn. He also found that using foams or fiber board eventually broke down and created bigger, broader creases throughout the toebox.

So, Paul evolved the Crease Preventer into the Wearable Shoe Tree. Paul knew that conventional shoe trees are the top solution for protecting both men's shoes and women's shoes during travel and storage. But they did not lend themselves to use while being worn. So Paul worked towards a solution that combined the benefits of a traditional shoe tree and the crease preventer concept.

The result was the Wearable Shoe Tree (WO 2009/017730). To make it a reality, Paul brought on Warren Benchoff, Christopher Bousquet, and Aaron Garza to support his efforts to bring the Wearable Shoe Tree to market.

Paul worked tirelessly with Christopher on box-fresh.com which evolved into ikeepmykicksfresh.com and today's wearableshoetrees.com. Paul hit every major sneaker forum and social website to get the word of mouth out to the world. Since inception, roughly 100 youtube videos have been published by customers, SneakerFreaker.com has published a review (http://www.sneakerfreaker.com), and we have been receiving emails daily supporting our Wearable Shoe Tree for men's, women's & 23isback shoes.

Paul, with the help of George Chalmers, conceived of the BOX-FReSH Brand and Christopher Bousquet coined the Protector and the Strider, later the Universal, to give immediate definition to which model was right for which customer. Through a late night discussion between Paul and Chris, they realized that there are two types of enthusiasts in footwear. Those who have their favorite everyday pair, and those who collect or customize and spend heavy amounts of money to wear their favorite pair only on special occasions.

The WST Team put together the Protector, a rigid version for expensive footwear that is worn on rare occasion. And the Strider, for footwear that is worn everyday. We found through customer feedback that the Protector was the chosen form, but our customers wanted a softer version. In response, the Universal was created. It is the same form as the Protector, but softer. It eventually replaced the Strider as the main alternative to the Protector.

Paul spent countless nights up late with Warren getting the product just right. On our MySpace page (myspace.com/ikeepmykicksfresh), we have catalogued 4 generations of the Wearable Shoe Tree that began as a basic idea and was molded to become the most comfortable and effective solution that keeps the toebox pristine. Warren experimented with with several plastics, plaster, and fiberglass to get the shape just right. Warren personally pressed out the models made with vacuum molding before approving them for injection molding and mass production.

Warren takes such great care with every order, that he personally steps in to address any and every customer concern. He puts the quality of the product and the concern of the customer as his top priority.

Together, the WST Team has done everything possible to set up a solid base for the product to jump off of. Now, Paul, with the help of the close friend and colleague network of Mike DeCecco, and David Linker have partnered up to bring the Wearable Shoe Tree to shelves across the country and soon world wide with the NBA™! Coming soon to a store near you...

For the WST Team, it's about family. It's about growing our organization with the right talent and dedication to producing the best product and bringing the footwear industry to the next level. To that effort, Joseph Baldini and Jeffrey Smith joined the WST Team in Fall of 2008. Joseph, a talented Web Developer, and Jeff, a brilliant graphic designer, have propelled the Wearable Shoe Tree website to a next generation platform.

If you would like to read more about our founder, Paul Siragusa, please visit his personal profile.

For more on the Wearable Shoe Tree go to our contact page and visit our network of websites!