By Steve Seepersaud
The part of the sneaker you can't see is more important than the color scheme, style or what athlete is fronting the brand. How the bottom of the shoe grabs the playing surface is vitally important for an athlete's performance and safety. When you're counting on the sneaker to grip and it doesn't, the result is painful.
EDGE — a product born in Binghamton — can be a game changer.
"I've watched several of my friends and other athletes slip while playing sports and sustain major injuries," said co-founder Cyrus David '07. "The best solution was to lick your fingers and wipe your sneaker soles, which is gross and ineffective. One of my friends would even wet his socks before playing and constantly wipe his soles against the wet socks for better grip."
After months of treating his sneaker soles with all kinds of sprays and not getting results, David tested chemicals that soften rubber. On the court, he was able to make sharper cuts without stickiness or picking up dust. He teamed up with Zach Keck '18, MS '20, a materials scientist, and they focused on bringing a better traction spray to the market. After hundreds of iterations, they had a formula they felt was marketable.
"I was already a part of the Koffman Southern Tier Incubator as an undergraduate student working on potential business ideas," Keck said. "Laura Holmes from the incubator was connected with Cyrus when he reached out looking for guidance and connected him with me! I entered the accelerator program under Eric Krohn's mentorship and was given lab space and other resources to help us pursue this. Now, the incubator serves as our headquarters."
Keck has had stints at Brookhaven National Laboratory researching solar cells and the Advanced Process Laboratory at Universal Instruments, and completed his thesis in electrochemistry at Binghamton. He works full-time as CEO for EDGE. This is David's first foray into physical consumer goods, having spent his entire career in software with stops at Google, Sojo, FanDuel and Arena.
EDGE softens rubber in a non-toxic and fast-drying manner, unlike solutions used by race car drivers that take a long time to dry and are not environmentally friendly. Sustainability is a core value for EDGE; the product is alcohol-free and sold in glass bottles instead of plastic. In addition, the company partners with a payment solutions vendor that donates a portion of each transaction to carbon cleanup efforts.
Though EDGE is marketed online throughout North America, it's very connected to Binghamton. All Bearcat indoor sports teams use EDGE, and basketball star Jacob Falko is one of several athletes partnering with the company through a name, image and likeness deal. While the product is direct to consumer, there are plans to hit retail stores in 2024.
