The most important piece of climate tech in a hospital might not be the heat pump. It is the shoe. Every shift, a nurse walks the equivalent of a 5K, burning calories and generating a low-grade, persistent form of energy that dissipates as heat, vibration, and pain. Watts Lindqvist, Climate and Energy Editor at Startuply, is here to tell you that capturing even a fraction of that wasted human output is a unit economics problem. STAND+, a direct-to-consumer footwear company, is making the bet that it can be solved with a proprietary insole.
Founded in 2020 by Rob Gregg after his own experience with foot pain from long mailroom shifts, STAND+ sells what it calls Energy-Recovery™ shoes [standshoes.com, Undated]. The target is anyone who stands for a living: nurses, teachers, retail workers. The proposition is simple. Replace the standard foam slab with a biomechanical system designed to redirect energy from impact back into support, reducing fatigue. It is a hardware play in a sector dominated by branding, and its quiet syndicate of investors, including Cake VC and Women's Equity Lab, suggests someone thinks the physics checks out [Business Insider, 2022-09].
A wedge called compliance
STAND+ did not try to out-cool Nike. Instead, it went after a specific, regulated need: ASTM-certified slip resistance. This is the mandatory standard for footwear in many healthcare and food service settings. By building its Energy-Recovery system into shoes that meet this certification, the company created a functional wedge into a professional wardrobe [standshoes.com, Undated]. The shoes are also HSA/FSA eligible, turning a personal purchase into a reimbursable medical expense for some buyers. This is not about selling a better sneaker. It is about selling a certified tool that happens to be more comfortable. The company even partnered with Alex's Lemonade Stand Foundation on a charity edition, a classic brand-building move for a mission-driven audience [Alex's Lemonade Stand Foundation, Undated].
The team behind the insole
Rob Gregg is a solo founder who has built a narrative of expertise through proximity. He is a Forbes Under 30 Fellow and was named to the Forbes Next 1000 list in 2021 [Forbes, 2021]. More concretely, he serves on the Advisory Council of the National League for Nursing, a credential that lends weight to claims that the shoes are "designed with nurse input" [standshoes.com, Undated]. The operational muscle appears to come from COO Sam Laakkonen, previously co-founder and COO at children's app company Wauwaa [Crunchbase, Undated]. The team is presented as lean and distributed across North America and Europe, a structure that fits a DTC model built on third-party manufacturing and digital marketing [LeadIQ, Undated].
Traction in a quiet channel
Public metrics are sparse, but the company claims its shoes have been worn by over 50,000 essential workers [standshoes.com, Undated]. Its Instagram presence, @wearstand, has cultivated a community of 24,000 followers with testimonials and lifestyle content [Instagram, Undated]. The business model is primarily direct-to-consumer, with some B2B outreach to healthcare and sports groups. A 2022 Business Insider report indicated the company, then called Gales, was nearing a $4 million raise, though final details were never publicly confirmed [Business Insider, 2022-09]. The investor list is long on boutique firms and angels, suggesting a raise built on relationships and a compelling founder story rather than explosive early data.
The incumbent in the recovery lane
Every new shoe company faces a gauntlet of giants. For STAND+, the most direct comparison is not a workwear brand, but Oofos, the leader in recovery footwear. Oofos built its category on a proprietary foam that absorbs impact. STAND+’s entire bet is that a biomechanical, energy-redirecting system is a better long-term solution than passive foam compression. The company’s own blog features a detailed comparison pitching its technology as more durable and supportive for all-day wear [standshoes.com, Undated].
The risks here are the classic hardware traps:
- Capital intensity. Footwear requires inventory. Without clear funding figures, the company’s runway for iterating on molds and stocking sizes is unknown.
- The comfort paradox. Footwear is intensely subjective. What feels like "energy recovery" to one wearer may feel like a stiff board to another. The 50,000-wearer claim is a start, but it lacks the granularity of repeat purchase rates.
- Distribution gravity. Breaking into hospital procurement or large corporate uniform programs is a different game than selling online. The company’s B2B motion remains unproven at scale.
The calculation on the floor
Let’s do the back of the envelope math. If a nurse walks 5 miles in a 12-hour shift, that’s roughly 10,000 steps. Each step delivers an impact force. STAND+ claims its system recovers energy from that impact. If the technology reduces fatigue by even a few percentage points, the compound effect over a career is substantial. The real unit economics, however, are in the shoe’s lifespan. If the Energy-Recovery system maintains its support longer than standard foam breaks down, the cost per comfortable hour shifts in STAND+’s favor. That’s the durability bet hiding inside the comfort claim.
STAND+ does not need to beat Nike. It needs to beat Oofos in the specific, aching niche of the professional on their feet. It is a climate tech company for the human body, translating joules of wasted kinetic energy into more productive, less painful hours. The next twelve months will show if that translation is compelling enough to move from thousands of wearers to tens of thousands of loyal customers.
Sources
- [standshoes.com, Undated] STAND+ Energy-Recovery™ Shoes Built For Standing | https://www.standshoes.com/
- [Business Insider, 2022-09] Footwear startup Gales nears $4 million raise | https://www.businessinsider.com/gales-wants-to-become-nike-people-stand-for-a-living-2022-9
- [Alex's Lemonade Stand Foundation, Undated] ALSF Lemon Edition Partnership | https://www.alexslemonade.org/alsf/admin/partner-product/gales
- [Forbes, 2021] Rob Gregg - Forbes Next 1000 | https://www.forbes.com/profile/rob-gregg/
- [Crunchbase, Undated] Sam Laakkonen Profile | https://www.crunchbase.com/
- [LeadIQ, Undated] STAND+ Team Geography | https://www.leadiq.com/
- [Instagram, Undated] @wearstand Instagram Profile | https://www.instagram.com/wearstand/