In short
Superfeet’s 50-year mission to improve “underfoot” fit and performance, how the brand serves different consumer types (sport, industrial, city), distribution evolution (direct-to-consumer, Amazon, wholesale partners), and how AI is being adopted in a thoughtful, problem-first way.
Guest backgrounds
Tripp Randall is CEO of Superfeet. He spent nearly 25 years at Nike, leaving about three years ago after a shift toward a vertical retail model. He later worked in the audio space (including a Japanese brand with a strong following) before joining Superfeet. He describes Superfeet as a legacy brand with a strong purpose and a team he respects.
Key claims
Superfeet focuses on foot shape (left/right, arch height) to “close the gap” between what shoes are designed for and what feet need. Comfort is real, but they also claim performance benefits (energy transfer/acceleration) backed by data. They segment consumers into sport athletes, industrial athletes, and “city athletes,” each with different journeys and product needs. AI is used via an e-commerce platform and a strategic framework, but “gut feel” and leadership judgment still matter.
Notable examples
World Cup skiers as the original performance focus; plantar fasciitis support; hockey skates in Canada; industrial use cases via distributors (airline baggage handlers, car production lines, hotel chains); wholesale partners including REI, Fleet Feet, and New Balance; social media for micro-communities; factory visits where customers refuse to return product.
Written by AI. May contain mistakes. Listen to the episode to check what was said.
Chapters
Tap a time to open that second in VOResilience in Pursuit of Goals
0:00 to 0:19
Learn about the importance of persistence and focusing on controllable factors in achieving goals.
“I am unwilling to give up, but I will start over from scratch as many times as it takes to get where I want to be.”
Meet Trip Randall and Superfeet
3:31 to 5:17
Kara introduces Trip Randall, CEO of Superfeet, and discusses the brand's legacy and mission.
“Hi, everyone, and welcome back to The Kira Golden Show.”
The Importance of Foot Support
5:17 to 10:59
Trip discusses the foundational principles behind Superfeet and its focus on foot support.
“This message is a paid partnership with AT &T Business.”
Trip's Journey from Nike to Superfeet
10:59 to 14:02
Trip shares his career journey from Nike to Superfeet and the reasons for his transition.
“And it's what fuels us every day is that mission.”
Transitioning from Major Brands to Superfeet
17:01 to 19:12
Trip reflects on his journey from Nike to leading Superfeet and the challenges of being an accessory brand.
“I mean, you've lived and really understand kind of that market of shoes.”
Understanding Superfeet's Consumer Base
19:13 to 26:37
Trip explains the different consumer segments Superfeet caters to and their unique needs.
“I remember those days at Hint, a retailer call, an order, a decision, all of it.”
Evolution of Distribution in Superfeet
29:13 to 30:28
Trip discusses how distribution has changed for Superfeet over the years.
“This means reliable uptime, easy switching, and smart communications.”
Partnerships and Market Presence
30:29 to 32:44
Exploring Superfeet's partnerships with retailers and the importance of fit.
“And we've continued to push on the direct-to-consumer space.”
Reaching Industrial Consumers
32:45 to 35:51
Trip explains how Superfeet engages with the industrial market for footwear.
“I would say our industrial workspace, that distribution is new.”
The Role of AI in Superfeet's Strategy
35:53 to 40:45
Discussing the implications of AI and its integration into the business.
“So those safety officers and those companies see more productivity from their workforce because, one, they're happier.”
Show all 13 chapters
Returning to Founder Roots
40:46 to 42:06
Trip emphasizes the importance of Superfeet's founder story in building the brand.
“That was a that was kind of a gut feel for us that that's where we belong.”
The Importance of Athlete Connection
42:06 to 46:09
Learn how Superfeet connects with athletes and adapts their product strategy.
“And those skiers we served who needed a hundredth of a second difference to be on the podium or not, who believed in this brand, we, and I will say when I came to the brand, it was still serving that sport consumer.”
Building on Brand Heritage
46:13 to 46:50
Discover the significance of honoring brand roots while innovating for new consumers.
“feet is i absolutely love the brand and what you're doing with it so so terrific and love all the comments you've made and the lessons, so many in there.”
Transcript
Automatic transcript. May contain errors.0:00I am unwilling to give up, but I will start over from scratch as many times as it takes
0:07Kara Goldin:to get where I want to be. You just want to make sure you will get knocked down, but just make sure you don't get knocked out. So your only choice should be, go focus on what you can control. Hi everyone and welcome to the Kara Goldin show. Join me each week for inspiring conversations with some of the world's greatest leaders. We'll talk with founders, entrepreneurs, CEOs, and really some of the most interesting people of our time. Can't wait to get started. Let's go. This episode of the Kara Golden Show is brought to you by LinkedIn Hiring Pro. Hi, Kara here. For small businesses, every hire matters, but so does your time.
0:53Kara Goldin:I felt that pressure firsthand. You know, a bad hire isn't just frustrating, it's expensive in time, money, and team morale. And yet hiring the right person can feel like a full-time job on top of everything else you're already doing. Sifting through applications, trying to spot the real standouts, second-guessing decisions, it can get overwhelming fast. That's why having a way to save time without sacrificing quality isn't just nice to have, it's critical. Luckily, LinkedIn Hiring Pro is built for that reality. It's your hiring partner designed to help you hire with confidence by surfacing only the right candidates without turning hiring into another full-time job.
1:39Kara Goldin:Posting a job isn't always the hard part. It's finding, connecting with, and screening the right candidates. Hiring Pro streamlines the entire process from drafting your job to shortlisting candidates and conducting AI-powered interviews for initial screenings. Their updated conversational interface lets you describe what you need in plain language, no recruiter jargon needed. Nearly 60 % of hires find a candidate to interview within a week. With Hiring Pro, you spend less time searching and more time connecting with the right talent. Join the 2.7 million small businesses using LinkedIn to hire.
2:19Kara Goldin:Get started by posting your job for free at linkedin.com slash Kara Golden. Terms and conditions apply. This message is a paid partnership with AT &T Business. Hey everyone, Kara here. Let's get real about those early days of building a business. Not the highlight reel, the actual day-to-day. The friction, trying to manage everything across time zones, across teams, across locations, and realizing how much depends on staying connected. I remember those days at Hint, a retailer call, an order, a decision, all of it. And you realize quickly, connection isn't a nice to have. It's the lifeblood of your business.
3:01Kara Goldin:As a founder, you don't want to think about your connectivity. You just need it to work every time. AT &T Business is a reliable provider for small business owners. For Small Business Month, we celebrate small businesses by helping them run better. This means reliable uptime, easy switching, and smart communications. Powered by AT &T Business, built to work. Get AT &T Business at business.att.com. Hi, everyone, and welcome back to The Kira Golden Show. So have you ever noticed how some of the most important parts of a product, let's say a shoe, are the ones that nobody really talks about? And that's often where the real opportunity is.
3:47Kara Goldin:Our next guest, Trip Randall, didn't start this incredible company, but he definitely saw what the opportunity was. and Superfeet is the name of the company. It's a 50-year-old brand with deep roots in sports medicine built by founders who understood performance long before it was trendy. And they asked a bigger question, how do you take something that is really important to shoes and make them even better? And that is the task that Tripp, Tripp Randall, who is the CEO of Superfeet has taken on, which is how do you take something that already works and does a great job, Superfeet, but make it even better for today's athlete, hiker, skier, you name it.
4:41Kara Goldin:As I mentioned to Tripp, I've been a huge fan of the product for a while and I was so excited to get to chat with him and actually see how many more products there were than I didn't even realize. So growing without diluting what made it trusted in the first place and turning something most people overlook into something that they can't ignore. That's what we're gonna get into today. So super excited to be here with Tripp Randall, the CEO of Superfeet. So Tripp, thank you for joining us. Very excited to meet you. Thrilled to be here, Cara. Thanks for having me. And also for your support of Superfeet.
5:20I love that you're a fan of the brand.
5:22Kara Goldin:This message is a paid partnership with AT &T Business. Hey everyone, Kira here. Let's get real about those early days of building a business, not the highlight reel, the actual day-to-day, the friction, trying to manage everything across time zones, across teams, across locations, and realizing how much depends on staying connected. I remember those days at Hint, a retailer call, an order, a decision, all of it. and you realize quickly, connection isn't a nice to have. It's the lifeblood of your business. As a founder, you don't want to think about your connectivity. You just need it to work every time.
6:03Kara Goldin:AT &T Business is a reliable provider for small business owners. For Small Business Month, we celebrate small businesses by helping them run better. This means reliable uptime, easy switching, and smart communications. powered by AT &T Business, built to work. Get AT &T Business at business.att.com. This episode of the Kara Golden Show is brought to you by LinkedIn Hiring Pro. Hi, Kara here. For small businesses, every hire matters, but so does your time. I felt that pressure firsthand. You know, a bad hire isn't just frustrating, it's expensive in time, money, and team morale. And yet hiring the right person can feel like a full-time job on top of everything else you're already doing.
6:54Kara Goldin:Sifting through applications, trying to spot the real standouts, second-guessing decisions, it can get overwhelming fast. That's why having a way to save time without sacrificing quality isn't just nice to have, it's critical. Luckily, LinkedIn Hiring Pro is built for that reality. It's your hiring partner designed to help you hire with confidence by surfacing only the right candidates without turning hiring into another full-time job. Posting a job isn't always the hard part. It's finding, connecting with, and screening the right candidates. Hiring Pro streamlines the entire process from drafting your job to shortlisting candidates and conducting AI-powered interviews for initial screenings.
7:40Kara Goldin:Their updated conversational interface lets you describe what you need in plain language, no recruiter jargon needed. Nearly 60 % of hires find a candidate to interview within a week. With Hiring Pro, you spend less time searching and more time connecting with the right talent. Join the 2.7 million small businesses using LinkedIn to hire. Get started by posting your job for free at linkedin.com slash Kara Golden. Terms and conditions apply. Such a fan, such a fan of the brand. So, okay, so for listeners who have been hiding under a rock and let's say they don't even realize that they can make their cool shoes that they have comfortable with super feet, how do you describe the brand?
8:31Well, first of all, none of them should feel like they're behind the curve in any way, shape, or form. One of the great things about this brand is while we enjoy folks like yourself and a number of people who have been with the brand forever, there are so many people who don't know of or have not come across the benefits of this product for them. So that's very exciting for us as a leadership team. Superfeet, as you said, was founded 50 years ago with the idea that everybody needed shape and support under their foot. that footwear inherently was not providing a fit and the support and foundation that every one of us need below our feet to help us throughout our kinetic chain through our ankles our knees our hips and our back so our founders knew that and believed in it and built a product that at for one point was more sports medicine and not quite as accessible but they were committed when they founded Superfeet to saying, look, everybody should be able to have this product.
9:33Let's make sure we bring it, make it more accessible and give everyone this opportunity to get this underfoot. And that was 50 years ago. And the brand continues to go hard and heavy and strong. And, uh, our recently we've, we'll talk about it. I'm sure we've done a little work to give that, give that a bit of a boost. Um, but yeah, it's, it's foundational for us and it's foundational for everybody. We believe everybody, every foot out there should have super feet under it. Most footwork companies don't spend quite as much time with the underfoot shape as they do around new foams and new technologies and designs and outsoles and midsoles.
10:12Whereas super feet is purely focused on your foot, your left and right foot in some instances, which are probably not the same. And making sure that when you buy that amazing shoe or running shoe, a ski boot you mentioned, or a hiking boot, that Superfeet can then close the gap between the shape of your foot and what that company created to really serve many consumers. We close that gap in that fit process to really make it better for you and make sure it's more personalized for the needs you have based on your arch height or your type of foot. So yeah, it's a need everybody has. We are constantly chasing new consumers and bringing new folks to the brand.
10:49And as I said, they're not under a rock. It's just not something everybody has considered or it's not maybe crossed their path. So yeah, big business opportunity for us. And it's what fuels us every day is that mission.
11:02Kara Goldin:That's exciting. So you spent more than two decades at Nike, such an incredible brand and what a great career. What was the point when you said, okay, I'm going to go and do something else? It seemed like such an exciting time at Nike. you left about three years ago. And what was the point when you just said, okay, it's time. I'm gonna go and take on this new challenge. Yeah, well, listening to your podcast, you have a lot of stories of folks having all sorts of journeys. Some that were working well, some that weren't going well. I'd been there for almost 25 years. I was coming up on 25. We got a new CEO and fundamentally Nike shifted its business model entirely away from being sports specific to being more geared toward what a vertical retail model might be, men's, women's, and kids.
11:57Now, I don't have to read everybody the headlines of what has transpired since because it's, frankly, it's a Harvard business case study, I think, at this point. But it was time for me to move on. So I did. I left and said it was time for me to go do something different. And at that time, I moved on. And not unlike Nike, which has a rabid following of supporters, still does and still enjoys that, which is a competitive advantage for that brand. I moved over into the audio space. So I left, as somebody said to me once there, like you're moving from sneakers to speakers, but also to a brand, a Japanese brand that also had a rabid following of aficionados and just lovers.
12:36So I went into the audio space for a few years, which was a great kind of a little journey, personal passion for me as well. But then when that company sold, I was ready to move on to the next journey, I met the folks who had decided to make an investment in Superfeet because they, like you, were believers in the brand, primarily from the ski and outdoor space. And they were looking for a leader who, one, believed in the brand and two, wanted to build something and wanted to take something that was, as you say, 50 years. It's a legacy brand. This is a brand that had been around and had, again, a rabid following.
13:16I wish I could count the number of people who walk up to me and have, since I've taken this job, walk up to me on the street and find out what I do. And, oh, and they want to get down and take their shoe off and proudly show me what's in their shoe. Because as you said, you can't, you can't see it. They knew we had, they had this rabid following of consumers and they wanted to build on that. And they needed someone to take them into kind of the next 50, if you will. And it was really a match. And I met a team that I loved. The guys that I work with are fantastic. And then Superfeet also happens to have a tremendous purpose backbone to the company beyond what we just do in product, which is an amazing part of something I was looking for.
13:55I wanted to be at a place where there was great respect among teammates, where we were giving back and making the world a better place. And Superfeed just delivered all those for me. It was really just the right opportunity at the right time. I'm very lucky. Very lucky. I'll just leave it at that.
14:10Kara Goldin:This message is a paid partnership with AT &T Business. Hey everyone, Kira here. Let's get real about those early days of building a business, not the highlight reel, the actual day-to-day, the friction, trying to manage everything across time zones, across teams, across locations, and realizing how much depends on staying connected. I remember those days at Hint, a retailer call, an order, a decision, all of it. and you realize quickly, connection isn't a nice to have. It's the lifeblood of your business. As a founder, you don't want to think about your connectivity. You just need it to work every time.
14:52Kara Goldin:AT &T Business is a reliable provider for small business owners. For Small Business Month, we celebrate small businesses by helping them run better. This means reliable uptime, easy switching, and smart communications. powered by AT &T Business, built to work. Get AT &T Business at business.att.com. This episode of the Kara Golden Show is brought to you by LinkedIn Hiring Pro. Hi, Kara here. First of all, businesses, every hire matters, but so does your time. I felt that pressure firsthand. You know, a bad hire isn't just frustrating, it's expensive in time, money, and team morale. And yet hiring the right person can feel like a full-time job on top of everything else you're already doing.
15:43Kara Goldin:Sifting through applications, trying to spot the real standouts, second-guessing decisions, it can get overwhelming fast. That's why having a way to save time without sacrificing quality isn't just nice to have, it's critical. Luckily, LinkedIn Hiring Pro is built for that reality. It's your hiring partner designed to help you hire with confidence by surfacing only the right candidates without turning hiring into another full-time job. Posting a job isn't always the hard part. It's finding, connecting with, and screening the right candidates. Hiring Pro streamlines the entire process from drafting your job to shortlisting candidates and conducting AI-powered interviews for initial screenings.
16:29Kara Goldin:Their updated conversational interface lets you describe what you need in plain language, no recruiter jargon needed. Nearly 60 % of hires find a candidate to interview within a week. With Hiring Pro, you spend less time searching and more time connecting with the right talent. Join the 2.7 million small businesses using LinkedIn to hire. Get started by posting your job for free at linkedin.com slash Kara Golden. Terms and conditions apply. What a great fit, though. I mean, you've lived and really understand kind of that market of shoes. But this is just expanding on that and doing it really, I guess in some ways, your consumer was probably similar.
17:17Kara Goldin:But maybe it's like the frustrated consumer that maybe you couldn't have at times because they really needed that extra support. you know i i i might i will never look i always look back fondly on my nike time my my blood uh runs a little bit of with a little bit of nike orange in it um forever and and for that i'm grateful and it's no surprise when you see this leader uh working with the team we have at at super feet that we have pushed all our chips into the performance space to serve athletes we can talk about that a little bit but yeah it was it was quite it was quite a journey i will say it also had a lot of alignment, as you said, consumer wise, tons of alignment there, the retail climate and the retail landscape, quite similar, a different world.
18:03It's very interesting being in an accessory brand versus being the big behemoth Nike where, you know, people are coming to you to do business. It's an entrepreneurial journey to come from a bit, from a big brand. I don't know what it is about my career. I've gone from big brand to medium sized brand to small brand. My responsibility continues to go this way. I don't know what that says about what's happening here, but it's such an interesting journey to be, you're not the big gorilla on the street. You are, you have to wave to get a bit of attention, which is a good, some, we have some of that going on now where we're getting more into a pull market, but being in an accessory brand that is trying to help people that is hidden, by the way, as you sit in your shoe, you don't, there's no, there's no logo on the outside and telling people what's going on.
18:45It's been, it's been quite a journey, but there was quite a bit of alignment between my experience from Nike. And I had a lot to do with me being here with the guys who trusted in me to take the brand to the next stage. They figured I might have a little bit of a sense of what good looks like and what it might mean to chart the next steps in that journey. So yeah, definitely thank my Nike days for having some impact on why I'm here.
19:12Kara Goldin:This message is a paid partnership with AT &T business. Hey, everyone, Kira here. Let's get real about those early days of building a business, not the highlight reel, the actual day to day, the friction, trying to manage everything across time zones, across teams, across locations, and realizing how much depends on staying connected. I remember those days at Hint, a retailer call, an order, a decision, all of it. And you realize quickly, connection isn't a nice to have. It's the lifeblood of your business. As a founder, you don't want to think about your connectivity. You just need it to work every time.
19:54Kara Goldin:AT &T business is a reliable provider for small business owners. For Small Business Month, we celebrate small businesses by helping them run better. This means reliable uptime, easy switching, and smart communications. Powered by AT &T Business. Built to work. Get AT &T Business at business.att.com. This episode of the Kara Golden Show is brought to you by LinkedIn Hiring Pro. Hi, Kara here. For small businesses, every hire matters, but so does your time. I felt that pressure firsthand. You know, a bad hire isn't just frustrating, it's expensive. In time, money, and team morale. And yet hiring the right person can feel like a full-time job on top of everything else you're already doing.
20:45Kara Goldin:Sifting through applications, trying to spot the real standouts, second-guessing decisions, it can get overwhelming fast. That's why having a way to save time without sacrificing quality isn't just nice to have, it's critical. Luckily, LinkedIn Hiring Pro is built for that reality. It's your hiring partner designed to help you hire with confidence by surfacing only the right candidates without turning hiring into another full-time job. Posting a job isn't always the hard part. It's finding, connecting with, and screening the right candidates. Hiring Pro streamlines the entire process from drafting your job to shortlisting candidates and conducting AI-powered interviews for initial screenings.
21:31Kara Goldin:Their updated conversational interface lets you describe what you need in plain language, no recruiter jargon needed. Nearly 60 % of hires find a candidate to interview within a week. With Hiring Pro, you spend less time searching and more time connecting with the right talent. Join the 2.7 million small businesses using LinkedIn to hire. Get started by posting your job for free at linkedin.com slash Kara Golden. Terms and conditions apply. So take us through the process. So a consumer that you see who comes into Superfeet, I would imagine dealing with an issue or maybe they just think that something can be better than it is.
22:19Kara Goldin:Maybe it's not a massive problem typically that they're trying to fix, but they want comfort, right? They know that if they have better comfort, then they're going to be able to perform or better, whether that's high performance like, you know, a triathlete or the average hiker out in Marin County where I am who just like wants some comfort and doesn't want to screw up their feet. Take us through the process when somebody is looking at the Superfeet brand and what is the most surprising aspect that people might not realize about this consumer? Well, let me start with the consumer. We break our consumer down into three distinct consumers.
23:02So that's very important so that we don't lump everybody into that same journey. because the insights and what people are looking for and what motivates them in that journey, depending on which consumer group you fall in that we serve is quite different. So what we didn't want to do is just have this one size fits all journey. We serve a sport athlete. We serve an industrial athlete, which we can talk a little bit about. And then we serve what we call the city athlete, which frankly is a bit of code for more or less everybody who is just running around during the day, putting a lot of steps in, very busy lives, moving and going.
23:39Maybe they're not only taking care of themselves through fitness, but they're walking the day. They're in their shoes all day. They might not even have a chance to come home. They go straight out at night and their feet pay a price and their body can pay a price over the course of the day. So that's this wide group. But what we did is push our chips up into this performance and sport bucket first. That's where the company started. It started serving World Cup skiers back in the day. And little differences could mean being in a podium position or not. And that journey is very different. So we decided to make sure we were serving the athlete.
24:14We made a product commitment in terms of sports specificity. So you mentioned, you know us as a running brand, you know us that we serve hikers, but we also saw an opportunity to serve runners more deeply and more in a performance manner. you mentioned it there's no question consumers come to us looking for comfort so we have that consumer and we need to deliver that what we are also doing is flipping the script a bit and this is what is really a differentiator for our brand is our brand we have data that shows that our brand actually does help performance as well it will help you accelerate more quickly helps transfer energy from here to there without it you losing that in your footwear or losing that in your shoe which in the sport world, as I said, can make all the difference in the world, even if it's small amounts.
25:03So that's a big differentiator for us as that sport consumer comes in. Yes, comfort, and by the way, yes, pain. I give, so many people come to me and say, oh my, I have plantar fasciitis, can you help me? And we do have a magical product there. But more and more athletes are coming to us saying, help me, I need that whatever edge I can get to be just that much better. And we wanna be included in all those investments they're making, whether it's ice plunge baths or hydration or rollers to stretch themselves out. We believe that the install is part of that. So the journeys are different. Depends how you come to us.
25:39If you come to us as an athlete, we want to make sure we know what sport we're serving. Do you have an affliction or are you just looking to be better and get that edge? And we'll take you through that journey, whether it's digitally or in store to make sure that you get the right product in front of you. And if it's the industrial athlete, the worker, we want to know what kind of environment you're working in. Are you on concrete? Are you in landscaping and you're outside all day? Are there risks of injury from stepping on a nail, that kind of thing, if it's construction? We have products that serve that.
26:08Or are you on a factory line where you're just on your feet all day? So we'll ask you questions on that journey to be sure we know who we're serving, what those actual needs are, and then we'll direct you to the product that serves you. And that city athlete, if you're just looking for comfort, we got you covered. hands down, depending on what your arch height is or how much cushion you like under your foot. So we start by asking you a lot of questions. I hate to say it, but we want to know you so that we can serve you just that much better.
Read the full transcript
26:37Kara Goldin:This episode of The Kara Golden Show is brought to you by LinkedIn Hiring Pro. Hi, Kara here. For small businesses, every hire matters, but so does your time. I felt that pressure firsthand. You know, a bad hire isn't just frustrating, it's expensive in time, money, and team morale. And yet hiring the right person can feel like a full-time job on top of everything else you're already doing. Sifting through applications, trying to spot the real standouts, second-guessing decisions, it can get overwhelming fast. That's why having a way to save time without sacrificing quality isn't just nice to have, it's critical.
27:21Kara Goldin:Luckily, LinkedIn Hiring Pro is built for that reality. It's your hiring partner designed to help you hire with confidence by surfacing only the right candidates without turning hiring into another full-time job. Posting a job isn't always the hard part. It's finding, connecting with, and screening the right candidates. Hiring Pro streamlines the entire process from drafting your job to shortlisting candidates and conducting AI powered interviews for initial screenings. Their updated conversational interface lets you describe what you need in plain language, no recruiter jargon needed. Nearly 60 % of hires find a candidate to interview within a week.
28:04Kara Goldin:With Hiring Pro, you spend less time searching and more time connecting with the right talent. Join the 2.7 million small businesses using LinkedIn to hire. Get started by posting your job for free at linkedin.com slash Kara Golden. Terms and conditions apply. This message is a paid partnership with AT &T Business. Hey everyone, Kara here. Let's get real about those early days of building a business. Not the highlight reel, the actual day-to-day. The friction, trying to manage everything across time zones, across teams, across locations, and realizing how much depends on staying connected. I remember those days at Hint, a retailer call, an order, a decision, all of it.
28:50Kara Goldin:And you realize quickly, connection isn't a nice to have. It's the lifeblood of your business. As a founder, you don't want to think about your connectivity. You just need it to work every time. AT &T Business is a reliable provider for small business owners. For Small Business Month, we celebrate small businesses by helping them run better. This means reliable uptime, easy switching, and smart communications. Powered by AT &T Business, built to work. Get AT &T Business at business.att.com. So distribution, 50 years ago, we weren't doing direct-to-consumer. So distribution has evolved significantly, I think, for Superfeet.
29:38Kara Goldin:But how has that stayed the same and how has it changed for you overall? It's a great question. In a way, we were doing direct-to-consumer back in the day. There was a ski shop up in the Sierras, up near Mammoth in that area. And it was serving World Cup skiers on the World Cup skier tour. so when they were on their circuit they would stop and get their boots tuned by these these guys who were in the back and when i tell you it was low-key like if i had photos of it you'd be like that's about as low-key as retail could get back then these this was uh really down and dirty but it was high-end performance in the footwear space particularly for skiers so that is i call that that is direct to consumer for me we were serving that was like our own that was really in a way it wasn't our store, but that shop in the back was our first, I consider Superfeet's first retail.
30:35And we've continued to push on the direct-to-consumer space. So I would say what has continued is our direct line to the consumer through what, as we know today, superfeet.com, very important to us. It's one of the places we ask all those questions and take you through the appropriate journey to get you in front of the right product that you asked me about, Cara. So that's been very important. Of course, the marketplace landscape has evolved dramatically. We have a large partnership also in the Amazon space and with some other digital marketplaces, which is the way we know consumers are finding product these days.
31:11So very important. And then social media is also a place that we also are selling more and more product every day. Some products were early adopters there, as we know, the huge success stories of women's cosmetics and some of the brands that have had just tremendous success there. But again, once you learn more about our product and you can now market to those micro communities, the social platforms have been amazing. On the wholesale side, I would say we go way back with REI. REI has been a partner of ours for years, primarily because of that outdoor and ski business. And they also are serving a runner these days.
31:48So we do a lot of business with them there. Fleet Feet is a big partner of ours in the market. So at Running Specialty, as well as Independent Running Specialty, who are, we have a number of partners there, some of the more influential partners in the market, the Heartbreaks, the Connecticut Run Companies. These are folks who are serving their local communities. We are a big part of the fitter journey when you go in there to get fitted. More often than not, you won't just leave with a running shoe, you'll leave with Super Feet as well. And we're also a partner with New Balance. We're a partner with Red Wing Boots.
32:20All brands, interestingly enough, that if you look and wonder what the sinew is that runs through all of their DNA, they just cared about fit. They knew fit at the end of the day was a performance benefit. They knew it was going to help you get through your day, whether that was a performance activity or whether it was just getting through your day. And they just shared, there was just a shared DNA between Superfeed and those brands. So it's not surprising that those are the brands we partnered with. So it's evolved. It's different. I would say our industrial workspace, that distribution is new.
32:53It's actually newer for me too. We do business with the big distributors, the Grangers of the world, accessing all sorts of workers. And they access workers at scale, scale that we wouldn't be able to access quite the same way with our own sales force. So that's probably the newest landscape we have in terms of distribution that has kind of evolved the brand versus where we started. And it's changing every day, all of it, just to be honest with you. It's amazing. The rate of change is incredible in our space. So we're just keeping up with it.
33:25Kara Goldin:That's so interesting. So how are you reaching that new consumer then in the industrial space? I mean, Grainger, as you mentioned, but do you actually have to go to these locations as well for fit? How are you getting to that consumer? It's a great question. It's not unlike that consumer journey where depending on what consumer you're after, ask the right questions to be sure you're not serving everybody the same way. That industrial space operates very differently. So one way, one, we do have a direct sales force and that crew, I love that crew. They are busy every day connecting with wholesale retail where there is a wholesale business out there.
34:06And we have some great wholesale partners that serve that consumer. Interestingly enough, some of the running stores doors serve that consumer because the consumer comes in. Yes, they know it says running on the door, but they come in and say, aren't you guys the feet experts? And they are. So they come in there sometimes and they say, hey, what can you do? I'm on my feet all day. Help me. So it may not be a running shoe. Everyone's always looking for at a running store, which is interesting. Yeah. On the industrial side, the distributors matter. They can help us access these large companies with huge workforces, whether it's airlines with baggage handlers, whether it's car manufacturers with production lines, whether it's hospitality with just imagine the huge hotel chains.
34:48These people are on their feet all day, each with slightly different needs. The distributor can help us access those at a scale that we can't normally get to. On the distributor side, you asked about, do you go out there? And the answer is absolutely yes. where on the wholesale side, the traditional retail models, you're serving buyers. You want to, you're getting a buyer's interest. You want them to see your product, know that the consumer that they serve is going to believe in your product and see value in them carrying it. The buyer, if you will, on the industrial side is sometimes like safety officers or, you know, it's the wellness or wellness officers, depending on the company.
35:28Some have moved, evolved to the place of having wellness officers, which is fantastic. And some it's safety. So they're looking to keep their worker happy, keep them working, keep them productive. And even on the wellness side, make sure that when they go home at the end of the day, how can they continue to impact their lives? So we do go out and work with those folks. And we have data that shows that our product, when you're wearing it, you will be more productive. So those safety officers and those companies see more productivity from their workforce because, one, they're happier. Two, they're healthier.
35:59They don't have back pain. They're not calling in to say, oh, my God, my back is killing me. I can't come in. today, which has a number of angles to it. One, the productivity side, which is important, but also the human side. So our science and our data is very important to that business. And so we're constantly measuring the benefits of the impact we have. Do people like the product? It's funny, we know we have something when we go to a factory and they say, we don't want to give the product back. Thank you for trying it with us. Can we keep it? We're like, absolutely. It's yours. So it's just a very different model than the traditional retail Omaha.
36:33Kara Goldin:So AI is a conversation for everyone right now. And how has that inserted or how have you inserted AI into Superfeet? And maybe what have you found it still can't do? No, it's a great, great, great story. It's one that obviously everybody's talking about. You know, the journey for us is interesting in that one, I don't know that I've ever seen an accelerated journey and accelerated evolution of a topic or a tool or a platform. I've never seen anything like it. I don't know that any of us have. So whereas maybe even less than a year ago where we knew it was on our radar and in a quiet way, we were dipping our toe into the AI space.
37:23We replatformed and And our e-commerce platform is heavily, heavily vested with AI tools and AI thinking and learning. So we weren't sitting on the sideline, but it wasn't sort of a direct push. And I'm not sure we knew where exactly to apply it and how to apply it with our business. So I would tell you, as you catch us today and you speak to me today, we are building and have a framework, a strategic framework that we're building on how to approach it, where to approach it in our business, and what is the problem it needs to solve? because what we don't want to do is just, you know, hand handing out the tool to everybody, which, by the way, is also something we will do with our team.
38:02Our team all has access. Interestingly enough, as we were doing our our team goals for the year, an enormous percentage of our of our team asked came to us and their leaders and asked for A.I. learning and help, which I think is such an interesting kind of tipping point for the whole for the whole shebang, because the employee is knowing that I need to learn. I need to stay ahead of this curve and not let this happen to me. And they see efficiencies they can have in their business. And I'm sure along the way, people maybe have concern about what that means for our business and what that means for our teams, but they ask for help.
38:37So we are gonna help our employees by making sure we give them those tools. And we're gonna build a strategic framework, which we're in the middle of doing, on where and how best to apply. We don't wanna run. We're not gonna maybe be the first to go out, But we're going to look at our product, whether it's in the product space, whether it's in our back office functions, whether it's in our marketing space, you name it. We're going to take a look and see where to apply it first. And then we're going to move thoughtfully into that space. You asked what it doesn't do. I've said this. I've had this conversation before.
39:14And sometimes people say, don't be so sure. I think it actually does do that. So I may be already dated on this, but there's just a gut. Business to me, there's still just a gut feel. All the data in the world can tell you amazing things and we should be data driven. You should be able to back what you're doing with some proof points. Absolutely. There's also a gut feel. When this amazing leadership team that we've built at Superfeet sit in a room together and decide where we're going next as a brand, all the AI data in the world is not going going to do is not going to mimic the conversation that happens at that table with that team, with the years of experience they have, and seeing all the ups and downs and the movements and the trends in the market.
39:59So I don't know that it can mimic that yet. I'm sure people are trying and I'm sure there will be attempts and I'm sure there are even agents out there doing it right now. And maybe you hear about the billion dollar company run by one person, right? You hear that story, you hear those stories. And so somebody's figuring out what that looks like. But I'm still a believer in people. I'm still a believer in that gut feel that that team says, you know what? Our instinct tells us that's where to go next. And yes, proof points behind it. Yes, some data to back that up. So we're not flying blind. But I like to believe that humans are still have their hands on the wheel and are steering us to the next place for this brand.
40:37And that's what that honestly is what pushed us into this performance. I should say back into the performance space. We were always were a performance brand. But to just say, hey, that story needs to be told more firmly and more aggressively in the market. That was a that was kind of a gut feel for us that that's where we belong. So maybe an agent's working on that somewhere out there.
40:57Kara Goldin:So interesting. You worked in a company at Nike for years where Phil Knight is still a part of the ethos of the brand. And founder-led companies, I've worked in a few, also a founder myself. But how important do you think it is to kind of go back to those roots and kind of figure out like what were they trying to do and how do we continue doing that? We can expand it, but how do we make sure that we're not going to lose those consumers who are loyal consumers, who have expectations of our brand? I feel like you've been able to ride that successfully in your previous life. How do you view that with Superfeet today?
41:51That's great. I would say I've kind of danced through this a little bit, but our story, we went back to the founder store and went back to the heritage and roots of the brand. And those skiers we served who needed a hundredth of a second difference to be on the podium or not, who believed in this brand, we, and I will say when I came to the brand, it was still serving that sport consumer. We have, we have, um, we enjoy an amazing hockey, like our hockey business. That's just an example is amazing. Like it is just a given. And if you go to Canada, particularly, you will see people buy these high-end skates and they will just go to the wall and pull super feet and they will immediately put super feet into those skates and the acceleration, the, the science backed and data-driven acceleration boost that gives you, yes, it gives you comfort too.
42:41In a, in a, in a hockey skate, which over the years they've gotten much more comfortable, but they weren't always that comfortable. that was our founder's story was that little bit of difference that that marginal difference can make such a a big impact on on an athlete's life we went and grabbed that founder story paid a lot of respect to it so much so that we said we're putting all our chips there so that's our story like we paid the in a way i i say this you know i'm not patting ourselves on the back but we paid almost the the ultimate compliment to our founders by saying you were right we want to go do more of this.
43:14So I would say that for sure. Along that way, we have an amazing board of directors. We enjoy just a, we have a great crew and who I, now I count as mentors for me on the work we're doing. But that was a question we asked. If we go this route, we have existing consumers that may not think of themselves really as athletes. That might not be the first thing, word that comes to mind. They might be even a hiker, skier or some runners. They might still not reference themselves as an athlete. Are we going to alienate that consumer? And once we presented the point of view, being founder led, going back to our heritage, adding new product and new innovation that was going to be meaningful to take the brand to a place where, by the way, there's competition out there.
43:59I swear I opened my phone up and my algorithms are so jacked up at this point based on all the insole stuff I look at that. But I see every new insole company that pops up. And I swear there's a new one almost every six months with someone that thinks it's, hey, yeah, anybody can put a piece of plastic together with some foam. And won't that be good enough? The answer is no. And the consumer will tell them that soon enough. But, you know, we went back to them and said, should we be worried about this? We took the brand point of view around performance and innovation and the brand refresh that we knew was coming and said, what do you think?
44:36and they said, no, do not worry about that consumer that you have today. You're not turning your back on them. Be sure in your storytelling that you make sure they understand why that benefits them. The cascade of materials, the cascade of science and materials that comes from that more elite athlete that we serve is gonna cascade to that city athlete. The foams that we use now in our running product, which are super critical foams, not unlike the foam that was sitting in a shoe that broke the two hour, the previously thought of unheard of time of two hours in the marathon in London this past weekend, that supercritical foam that's in all those shoes is now in super feet and will come over time to the city athlete that we talked about earlier.
45:19So that cascade of innovation matters for all our consumers. So we felt, and now there's always a risk, you don't know for sure, but we said, look, that's a risk we're willing to take. And so we also still keep an eye on that consumer. We know who our best consumers are. We serve them well. Those who've been with us for years. And we are also bringing new consumers to the brand through this brand refresh and also some of the sport product. There's not a lot of older consumers buying cleated product for cleats. That's obviously a push for us to go younger. But we think that's important to keep any brand healthy.
45:55You've got to continue to feed the next generation. If there's going to be a next 50 years, you can't sit back and look at the last 50 and just sit on your laurels you've got to bring the next wave of consumers in and that's where we've chosen to go find that so yeah it's great it's a good question it was there was some risk in it but it was a risk we were willing to take and so
46:12Kara Goldin:far it's so far it's working i love it well trip thank you so much for joining me today uh super feet is i absolutely love the brand and what you're doing with it so so terrific and love all the comments you've made and the lessons, so many in there. So it's such a great reminder that some of the most enduring brands are built on such a strong foundation. And I love to see people go back to kind of the roots of the brand because so often it just ends up continuing to add on to new consumers. But I think that your strategy of doing both is right on and super important. So Superfeet, for those who haven't tried it or are excited to continue to support the brand, check them out for sure.
47:07Kara Goldin:And Tripp, thank you again for coming on. Tripp Randall, CEO of Superfeet. Cara, thank you so much. Honored to be here talking to you as a founder. In the spirit of paying homage to the founders we paid homage to, I know that's important to you being a founder yourself. So thanks for having us. And we're happy to come back and tell you how the journey went. So far, so good. But we got a long way to go. Absolutely. Thanks again. Thanks, Cara. Thanks again for listening to The Cara Golden Show. If you would, please give us a review and feel free to share this podcast with others who would benefit.
47:43Kara Goldin:And of course, feel free to subscribe so you don't miss a single episode of our podcast. Just a reminder that I can be found on all platforms at Kara Golden. I would love to hear from you too. So feel free to DM me. And if you want to hear more about my journey, I hope you will have a listen or pick up a copy of my Wall Street Journal bestselling book, Undaunted, where I share more about my journey, including founding and building Hint. We are here every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Thanks for listening, and goodbye for now.
From the publisher
On today’s episode, we sit down with Trip Randall, CEO of Superfeet — a brand most people don’t think about… but probably should.
Superfeet has been around for more than 50 years, originally built out of sports medicine and trusted by athletes who actually care about performance. But like a lot of legacy brands, it faced a question: stay relevant, or get left behind.
Trip didn’t found the company — he stepped into it after decades at Nike and Denon, bringing a different lens on growth, digital, and what consumers actually pay attention to. Now he’s focused on evolving Superfeet into something modern, without losing the credibility that made it matter in the first place.
In this episode, we get into what it really takes to scale a 50-year-old brand, why some of the biggest opportunities are hiding in “unsexy” categories, and how to make people care about something they’ve been ignoring for years. We also talk about what Trip learned from building billion-dollar businesses — and what doesn’t translate when you don’t have that same machine behind you.
If you care about brand building, category disruption, or how to rethink something everyone else has overlooked — this one’s worth your time.
Are you interested in sponsoring and advertising on The Kara Goldin Show, which is now in the Top 1% of Entrepreneur podcasts in the world? Let me know by contacting me at karagoldin@gmail.com. You can also find me @KaraGoldin on all networks.
To learn more about Trip Randall and Superfeet:
https://www.superfeet.com
https://www.instagram.com/superfeet/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/superfeet-worldwide/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/trip-randall/
Sponsored By:
AT&T Business - Switch to AT&T Business at business.att.com
LinkedIn Jobs - Head to LinkedIn.com/KaraGoldin to post your job for free.
Check out our website to view this episode’s show notes: https://karagoldin.com/podcast/844
