NBA player Damian Lillard co-founded an athlete-backed company to help performance and foot comfort.
Move Insoles
Plantar fasciitis and a tear in his foot led Lillard on the path to support foot care on a greater scale, according to a post shared on Instagram. He had never missed a game in his first three years in the league, including preseason, regular season, and playoffs. It wasn’t until his fourth year in Miami that the injury led him to miss several games.
“I pushed back into my right foot, and it felt like somebody was, like, pumping air into the bottom of my foot. Felt a tear, and then I missed a couple games. That was, like the first time, like, I couldn’t push through something … I needed a good orthotic, and I couldn’t find anything that was, like, comfortable,” he said in the Instagram post while speaking with NBA Head Athletic Trainer Courtney Watson.
“That was kind of the beginning of me starting to think about what could I do to try to come up with something or be a part of something that could kind of solve this issue I know a lot of athletes deal with. That was like a game changer for me,” he said.
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Founded in 2019, Move Insoles grew out of 120,000 three-dimensional foot scans and the work of top podiatrists and materials companies in pro sports, according to its website. The company also drew on insights from former NBA players. Its insoles, priced at $29 and up, can reportedly reduce impact by nearly 50% to protect knees, ankles, and hips. Its innovations include a patented shape, advanced foam, total comfort, and an active heel.
“Underneath every Move insole is a single engineered shape we call the Move Platform. It’s the alignment system. The arch support,” information from the company’s website reads. “The structural foundation everything else sits on top of … The Platform’s job: keep your foot landing where it’s supposed to land. Aligned arches, neutral ankles, weight distributed the way the body was designed to take it. Get the platform right and the rest of your body works the way it was built to.”
NBC News reported that Nate Jones, an athlete marketer, is a co-founder of the venture and came up with the idea. Jones works at Goodwin Sports, the very agency that represents Lillard. Former NBA players Chris Paul and Jamal Crawford are also investors in the business.
Move Insoles have been embraced by athletic trainers and medical staff, Inc. reported. 25 NBA teams use the insoles. Beyond the NBA, Dallas Cowboys’ CeeDee Lamb and five-time WNBA MVP A’Ja Wilson also use the products.
“I’ve been watching the NBA and been an NBA junkie my entire life,” Jones told NBC News. “So to create something that these players rely on, believe in, that their medical staffs rely on and believe in, is a big deal.”
Lillard told Inc.:
“I’m seeing just about every guy wearing Move insoles. They’re coming in the training room, asking the trainers for new ones. They’re seeking these out specifically.”
Revenue
Inc. reported that Move Insoles’ annual revenue reached $1.2 million in 2022. By 2025, annual revenue soared to $8 million. Its products also exist in nearly 560 Dick’s Sporting Goods.
Looking ahead, Move Insoles is gearing up to serve as the National Basketball Athletic Trainers Association’s official partner, the outlet reported.
