What was the moment that made you realize a shoehorn like this was needed?
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Short answer: Dominic explains that the idea for the Bracehorn came directly out of his experience as a shoe store owner. Over time he had many customers and clients come in wearing AFOs, ExoSym braces and similar devices, and he began noticing a consistent pattern of damage. The back heel counter of the shoe would crack or bend downward, and once it had been destroyed that way it was very difficult to bend back into shape. He recognized that brace wearers needed some kind of guide system to get the brace into the shoe cleanly, and that a conventional skinny shoehorn simply could not perform that job. The insight was that a different kind of device was required, one that would guide the brace straight into the shoe without the user having to force it or put a lot of effort into the process.
In Dominic's words
I did write these down, so I did go over the questions to make it easier. Basically, it came from seeing how everybody struggled. Being a shoe store owner, I had a lot of customers and clients coming in with AFOs, ExoSym braces, or those kinds of braces, and you notice things about people who had worn them before. I noticed how the back heel counter of the shoe would crack, or it would bend down.
And once it got destroyed that way, it is really hard to bend it back. So they needed some kind of guide system. That is when I noticed that a skinny shoehorn just could not do that.
They needed some kind of device that would guide their braces straight into the shoes without putting a lot of effort into it. That was really the moment for me. It was seeing customer after customer come in with the same problem, seeing the same damage to the back of the shoe, and realizing the tool they were using was never designed for what they were actually trying to do.