"When your feet hurt, everything hurts", used to say
Dr. William Mathias Scholl,
founder in 1906 of the well-known brand
Dr. Scholl,
specialized in
foot care
that is still a
benchmark
today .
William was one of
13 children of a carriage maker
and dairy farmer who instilled in him the values of a job well done based on responsibility, sincerity and gratitude.
On
the family farm
in La Porte (Indiana, United States) his passion for foot care began as some of his loved ones suffered from serious pain.
Despite his youth
, he wanted to investigate on his own
how to solve these problems, so he began to use
his grandfather's tools,
who had been a shoemaker in Germany.
In this way he began to
fix his own shoes
until he became the official family repairman.
Knowing that he had found a
calling
, at the age of 16 he moved to Chicago to work as
an apprentice in a shoe store.
In this cosmopolitan city he realized that the population suffered from the same lower extremity symptoms as the farmers, so
he enrolled in evening classes
at Loyola University Chicago, a private institution
run by the Jesuits.
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He had not yet managed to graduate when in 1904,
at the age of 22, he patented his first support for the arch of the foot
and two years later he founded the company Dr. Scholl to market his products.
In a short time he already
had hired more than 300 people
in charge of cutting the leather, packaging the products or taking care of the presses.
As an entrepreneur and
university professor,
he never abandoned his passion for
innovation
, which is why he continued his research to understand the structure, anatomy and biomechanics of the feet in relation to the rest of the body.
Aware that
his vast fortune
could help many people, in 1947
he created the Dr. Scholl Foundation.
He also knew how to spend his money wisely.
In winter he liked
to rest in luxurious places
like the Don Cesar Hotel in Florida, where in the late 1920s he met some of the most prominent names on the social scene, such as the Roosevelts, the Bloomingdales or the Fitzgeralds.
With this last couple -Francis Scott Fitzgerald and Zelda- he became very close, but they soon stopped being in contact.
In his free time he loved
to sunbathe, surf and hang out with millionaires.
Dr. Scholl, in his youth.
Although he
never married or had children, he
was a born conqueror who broke many hearts.
Even two of his girlfriends tragically passed away.
He got engaged to Peg Peterson who
after seeing him with another woman
made her so angry that she drove the car like crazy.
After colliding with a tree he died instantly because the steering wheel had crushed his chest.
Later
he was related to Grace Gilbert,
who did not enjoy the approval of the Scholl family.
When they found out that she had become
pregnant
, the doctor's father paid for an abortion, but Grace committed suicide.
Later he had secretaries, nurses and show business girls as
lovers
whom he gave gifts of
diamond rings and fur coats.
Extravagant
But without a doubt, her best-known dates were with
Vivien Leigh and Joan Crawford,
who used each other
for publicity purposes
by going to public places for photographers and gossip columnists to echo their special friendships.
The stars benefited from appearing in the press with the so-called
most famous golden bachelor of the time.
Having no children
, the business passed to his brother Frank,
who had previously helped him expand the business internationally, and to his children, with William taking it more seriously.
In fact, one of the most famous inventions is due to him, such as
the wooden sandal with a leather strap on the thumb
to exercise the muscles of the feet and legs.
It was said that Dr. Scholl was
such an extravagant person
that he used to walk around with a skeleton of a foot in his pocket.
He passed away in 1968 at the age of 85.
His nephew sold the company
to Schering-Plough HealthCare Corporation in 1979, but continued to run the product division until his retirement in 1984.
Throughout all these decades, the company's mission was to
ease people's pain
.
In fact, their motto has always been "we believe in healthy feet, from heel to toe."
Other of his inventions to highlight are the
special insoles to relieve plantar fasciitis,
lower back pain, and knee and heel pain;
insoles for different types of footwear (flats, heels, open, boots, ankle boots);
care products (manual and electronic files for calluses, cracked heels and exfoliating purposes) and pads for the arch of the foot or invisible heel protectors.
So up to more than 1,000 products.
According to the criteria of The Trust Project
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