Brand History

Fangio, Moss, Gurney, Hill, Bondurant, McLaren: These names are synonymous with auto racing. They are winners and daring people who have a passion for cars and success. These are the drivers that Piloti's founder, Kevin A. Beard, followed as he developed his own passion for racing. Kevin was a gear-head hot-rodder in his youth, yet, he graduated from Art Center in Pasadena, CA with a degree in Product Design, focusing on the interior of cars. While searching for the perfect job, Kevin joined the Advanced Design Group at Adidas in Germany, where he became a respected member of its revolutionary biomechanical team. He was instrumental in designing the first "Feet You Wear" concept. But that was only the start for Kevin.

After a few additional years of developing top selling products for Reebok and K-Swiss, Kevin wanted to get back to the cars and racing he loved, and this love inspired an idea for a new line of shoes. So in 1999, he left his director's post at K-Swiss to pursue something he always wanted to do: Create a line of authentic driving shoes that would not only be innovative in how they perform in fierce racing conditions, but also stylish and comfortable enough for the street. His passion became known as Piloti.

Piloti is Italian for "racing drivers." No truer expression could be found for Kevin's shoes. Using his background in biomechanics and design, he created a shoe that uses an exclusive, patented Roll Control heel technology, Nomex fire-resistant lining, reinforced heel-and-toe areas, tough double-row stitching, and an outer sole reminiscent of the racing tread pattern used in the 50's.

His designs are icons to the glory days when he watched drivers streak around the tracks at Sebring and LeMans. By taking this racing legacy and adding Kevin's technological ideas, Piloti helped resolve comfort and performance issues for today's NASCAR, Sports Car and Rally drivers such as Robby Gordon, Scott Pruett and Colin McRae.

Now, Piloti has a line of shoes designed especially for car enthusiasts, rally junkies, and street rodders (Hint: You don't have to rip around a 32% banked turn at 200 mph to enjoy your Piloti Driving Shoes). Piloti's Touring line of shoes uses all the performance features in our racing shoes; just sans the Nomex. They're so comfortable your other sports shoes may collect dust. These shoes are enjoyed by the likes of Jay Leno, Jerry Seinfeld, and Chad McQueen-even the members of Aerosmith. Best of all, they're available right here at SHOEBACCA.com!