Innovators like VKTRY founder Matt Arciuolo don’t just solve problems—they uncover them. With his expertise as a Board-Certified Pedorthist, Matt recognized that athletes lacked something crucial for both peak performance and injury protection—a solid foundation between their feet and the ground. This insight sparked Matt’s creation of the VKTRY Insole—the world’s first performance insole made from 100% aerospace-grade carbon fiber, proven to enhance athletic performance and protect against injury.
Matt Arciuolo’s drive for innovation, however, didn’t just begin with him—it was forged by generations of Arciuolo craftsmen known for turning challenges into opportunities.
Matt comes from a long line of footwear craftsmen. His great-grandfather’s family honed their craft in the bustling shoe factories of Manfredonia, Italy. In 1921, Matt’s grandfather, Francesco Arciuolo, immigrated to the U.S. from Italy with his family and opened Arciuolo Shoes in Milford, CT. When Francesco passed away, Matt’s father, Matthew Senior, left school at just 11 years old to take over the family business and support his mother and five siblings.
Taking on the responsibility of running a business at such a young age gave Matthew Senior a unique ability to face the unknown with confidence. One time, a customer placed an order with him for a pair of orthotics. Without missing a beat, Matthew Senior confidently agreed to the order—despite not knowing what orthotics were. That evening, he walked to the local library, looked up the word "orthotic" in a dictionary, and taught himself how to make them. Orthotics quickly became a core component of the family business. It wasn’t long before Matthew Senior was filling prescriptions from area physicians for custom orthotics to treat a variety of foot and lower leg issues. His first major encounter with athletes came in 1980, when a professional jai alai opened in Milford, attracting players from across the country who sought his expertise to alleviate their foot pain. This is also where VKTRY founder Matt Arciuolo was first exposed to working with elite athletes, learning how to solve their unique foot challenges firsthand.
Matthew Senior saw what others might have seen as an obstacle, as an opportunity. VKTRY Founder Matt Arciuolo built on his father’s legacy—identifying solutions where others didn’t even recognize a problem, and transforming those insights into groundbreaking innovations.
In his Milford, CT office, VKTRY founder Matt Arciuolo frequently worked with handicapped individuals, fabricating their leg braces to provide added spring and propulsion to make walking easier. Then, in 2006, Matt’s work caught the eye of the U.S. Olympic Bobsled Team, who asked him to be their Pedorthist of record. While working with both groups, Matt began to notice a common thread: whether it was a person struggling to walk or an elite athlete aiming to improve performance, the ability to store and return energy efficiently was key. That’s when Matt realized that the same spring-and-propulsion technology he used for braces could be adapted to help athletes run faster, jump higher, and better protect against injury.
“Matt began to notice a common thread: whether it was a person struggling to walk or an elite athlete aiming to improve performance, the ability to store and return energy efficiently was key.”
In 2008, Matt began experimenting with the idea of creating an insole stiff enough to store energy but flexible enough to return it. But the challenge didn’t stop there—it also had to be durable and supportive without sacrificing comfort, a seemingly impossible combination of qualities to balance. Yet, for Matt, overcoming these obstacles was part of the innovation process.
Together with his son Christian, he embarked on a relentless quest to find the right design and materials to give the insole the perfect balance of strength and flexibility. But nothing seemed to deliver the energy return that Matt envisioned. Then came the breakthrough: carbon fiber. Known for its exceptional strength and lightweight, carbon fiber seemed like the ideal solution. But there was a catch—it was an extremely tough and rigid material designed for demanding applications in the aerospace and automotive industries, not for the intricacies and sensitivities of the human foot.
Instead of giving up, Matt did what he does best: he innovated. He developed his own formulation of carbon fiber, one that was flexible enough to bend with the foot but still powerful enough to store and return energy. This was no small feat—at the time, carbon fiber wasn’t being used for anything like this. But Matt’s determination paid off. He was finally holding the foundation of what would become the world’s first energy-returning insole.
With the US Olympic Bobsled Team as his testing ground, Matt was able to constantly refine his design based on the team’s precise feedback. But the road to success wasn’t smooth. The early tests were brutal—the prototypes commonly cracked under the pressure the bobsledders’ explosive power combined with the sub-zero temperatures of Lake Placid. Although these setbacks left Matt feeling discouraged, he refused to quit. He obsessively tweaked the formulation of the carbon fiber blend and layering as well as the resin binding it together until it could withstand the incredible force of Olympic athletes. With each failure, he inched closer to the breakthrough he knew was within reach.
After over a year of refining and reworking the design, Matt was ready for the next round of tests. This time, the results were different. The insoles held strong, even under the extreme force of Olympic-level training. The athletes reported noticeable improvements in their performance—gains in speed, power, and explosiveness. The insoles weren’t just holding up—they were enhancing the way these elite athletes moved.
The ultimate validation came in 2010, when the U.S. Men’s Bobsled Team won Olympic Gold in Vancouver—their first gold in 62 years. Wearing Matt’s invention, the athletes felt the increased ground force immediately. For Matt, this was a breakthrough moment, confirming that his invention wasn’t just a concept—it was a game-changer.
This Olympic victory sparked the development of the VKTRY Performance Insole—the world’s first full-length carbon fiber insole, designed specifically for athletes. In 2015, Matt was granted U.S. and international patents for his design. Realizing that this groundbreaking product had tremendous potential, Matt and his wife Felicia co-founded VKTRY Gear in 2015.
The journey ahead, however, was far from smooth. Skepticism surrounded the idea that an insole could boost athletic performance, and the revolutionary concept faced doubt. However, Matt and Felicia persisted, subjecting VKTRY Insoles to rigorous scientific testing first at Southern Connecticut State University Performance Testing Lab and then with the Korey Stringer Institute at UConn. Soon Harvard/Mass General came knocking with a proposal to test the insoles' effect on osteoarthritis of the forefoot and plantar Fasciitis. These Ph.D.-led studies confirmed the validity of Matt’s concept and design, proving that their performance-enhancing and injury-protection claims were grounded in science, not just marketing.
Today, VKTRY Insoles have earned the trust of Olympians, professional athletes, collegiate teams, and everyday competitors alike. Many rely on their VKTRY Insoles to gain the edge they need to perform at their peak. But these insoles are more than supports for your feet—they’re about unlocking human potential, one step at a time. With each athlete who uses them, Matt’s vision of revolutionizing athletic performance becomes a reality.
Read the testimonials to hear directly from those athletes.
We customize insoles for specific athletes, based on sport, shoe/boot type, weight, gender, and age, so what you receive is built specifically for your individual needs.
