2026 Footwear Launchpad

Footwear companies are consumed by day-to-day fires; they cannot prioritize long-term, creative innovation. The industry has become:

• Insular – difficult for outsiders to be heard
• Reactive & repetitive – few groundbreaking ideas emerging internally
• Disconnected from emerging talent – especially from engineering, science, and non-footwear fields

Consumers and brands need solutions they don’t know exist yet. Current pipelines fail to nurture novel ideas.

Footwear LaunchPad solves this. We open the doors, provide the scaffolding, and ensure ideas become reality.

Applications are now closed; Prosper Portland will have tickets available for the pitch event—stay tuned for details!