Vibram

Vibram S.p.A. is an Italian company based in Albizzate, Italy, that manufactures and licenses the production of Vibram-branded rubber outsoles for footwear. The company is named after its founder, Vitale Bramani, who is credited with inventing the first rubber lug soles. Vibram soles were first used on mountaineering boots, replacing leather soles fitted with hobnails or steel cleats which were commonly used up until then. The soles produced by Vibram are called Vibram soles, Vibram rubber, or simply Vibram.

== History == right|thumb|241px|Detail of original Vibram "Carrarmato" lug sole design, with the yellow emblem of Vibram (November 2011) The deaths of six of Bramani's mountaineering friends in the Italian Alps on September 15, 1935, were partly blamed on "inadequate footwear". The tragedy drove Bramani to develop a new climbing sole. Two years later, he patented his invention and launched the first rubber lug soles on the market with a new tread design called the "Carrarmato" (i.e. "tank tread"), with the financial backing of Leopoldo Pirelli of Pirelli Tyres.