Racewalking History

Carmen Jackinsky is an avid racewalker and coach. Since footwear is the primary piece of equipment for competition, she has continually focused on ways to alter existing shoes to make them faster, lighter and more comfortable. It was during this time and the years that followed that Carmen recognized the need for footwear designed for walkers in various forms: power walking, racewalking, and fitness walking.

After several years of modifying shoes, Carmen filed for and received a U.S. utility patent. In 1996, Carmen hired a shoe repairman to attach her experimental midsoles to existing running shoes for wear testing. That led to a second US Patent, which she received in 2004.

A local sportswear company then hired Carmen to run the fit and wear test department for their footwear development team. There she learned the mechanics for branding and manufacturing.  Her desire to build her own footwear product began to grow. Three years later, Carmen Jackinsky started Reshod Walking Shoes, LLC.

Since athletic uppers are the most time-consuming part of the product, and since Carmen wanted to manufacture her product in the United States, she decided to continue the construction methods she used in her testing phase. Recycling shoes has two valuable purposes: it keeps shoes out of the landfill; and it eliminates the guesswork about proper fit.