How have you been utilizing Aetrex's Albert 2 Pro technology in your fitting process?
“We utilize Aetrex’s Albert 2 Pro to verify that someone fits within our sample size and can qualify as a potential fit tester. Once the 3D scanner has confirmed that this person is “sample size” in length, then we can watch for any potential outliers in their data. The first metric we watch closely for is width. When checking the width of our potential fit testers, we want them to fall in the 20th-60th percentile, so that we know we are not trying to fit an overly wide (or narrow) foot into standard width footwear.”

What is your goal for using the Albert 2 Pro?
“Our overall goal for using Albert 2 Pro in our Fit Lab is to use the data about someone’s feet and match it to their feedback about how our prototype footwear fits and feels. When someone comments about a certain part of the fit that doesn’t feel comfortable, we can use the data collected from the Albert 2 Pro and determine if this is caused by an outlier with their foot shape or if it is because of an issue with the footwear.”

What has been your biggest learning to date from using the Albert 2 Pro in your Fit Lab?
“Our biggest learning is that most people have no idea about the true characteristics of their feet. For example, we have testers that didn’t know they had an extremely high arch or instep until we scanned their feet on the Albert 2 Pro. The specific data collected from the scanner is necessary for us, but is also helpful for that individual in targeting what type of footwear they should seek out for the most natural fit.”

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Our overall goal for using Albert 2 Pro in our Fit Lab is to use the data about someone’s feet and match it to their feedback about how our prototype footwear fits and feels.
- Bryant Sentman | Quality Engineering Coordinator at LaCrosse footwear, Inc. Danner Boots

What are some other ways you use the foot scanner in your Lab?

“Now that we have an Aetrex Albert 2 Pro foot scanner, we do not fit test a single person without first taking their scan data into consideration.”

How do you feel the Albert 2 Pro helps you design and create better fitting products?

“The biggest way that Albert 2 Pro helps us design and create better fitting boots is being able to target issues that are due to footwear shape and design. We accomplish this by doing most of our fit testing with testers that are confirmed to be an average foot shape. Testers that fall in the 40-50th percentile in their foot characteristics give us the best insight into fit issues that are actually caused by footwear design.
Recently we worked on a large project pertaining to women’s fit. We scanned 15+ women who wore a size 7 and used all the data to try and find something that was comfortable for the majority of the testers. We were able to target testers that had around a 20th percentile girth measurement and testers that had around a 75th percentile to make sure that our footwear had an acceptable fit for both of those groups. By doing this, we were verifying that our product was acceptable for a very wide variety of foot shapes.”

Anything else you want to add?

“Aetrex Technology has given us a more confident approach to our fit testing process. We now can take subjective feedback from our testers and match it up with objective data from our Aetrex scanner, giving us a very well-rounded fit testing process.”