Origin of the Geox business
During a trip to Reno, Nevada (USA), to promote the wines produced by his family at an industry conference, Mario Moretti Polegato decided to take a walk. In discomfort due to overheating of his feet caused by the rubber-soled shoes he was wearing, he instinctively pierced the soles with a knife. By so doing he found a simple and effective way of releasing excess heat from his shoes.

On his return, Moretti Polegato developed his flash of intuition in the workshop of a small footwear company owned by his family and developed a new technology for rubber soles. He patented it immediately and created the first "breathing shoe".

After having unsuccessfully offered his invention to well established footwear companies and after having successfully completed his own market test with a range of children's footwear - Moretti Polegato took the plunge and started full-scale industrial production of footwear under the Geox brand.

The Geox brand name is a combination of the word "geo" (the Greek word for "earth") and of "x", the letter/element symbolizing the technology. The origin of the Geox name highlights the vocation and DNA of a company born of a revolutionary idea and that has made comfort, wellbeing, and innovation its corporate musts.

Commercial expansion and industrial reinforcement of the Group
Having consolidated its first successes in Italy, between 2000 and 2003 the Group expanded its commercial drive internationally, using both multi-brand and single-brand sales channels.

The group set up a sales organization to cover the international market, consisting of independent agents, allocated by territorial area, who handle distribution of Geox products. The company grew fast and its constant investments in research enabled Geox to discover new technologies and products. The Group laboratory, by virtue of its continuous study of the human body's transpiration, patented an idea for wellbeing in apparel - Geox apparel. The project permitted application of the know-how acquired in the study of transpiration also to garments such as jackets, anoraks, and sports jackets. This marked the start of a new era for the Montebelluna group - the era of the "breathing total look". Shortly afterwards, having successfully completed a test phase, Geox entered the Italian market with a patented apparel range.