VIBRAM SOLES

In 1935, the deaths of six of Bramani’s mountaineering friends in the Italian Alps was partly blamed on inadequate footwear. The tragedy drove Vitale Bramani to develop a new climbing sole. Two years later, he patented his invention and launched the first rubber soles on the market with a tread design called the ‘Carrarmato,’ with the financial backing of Leopoldo Pirelli of Pirelli Tires. The sole was designed to provide excellent traction on the widest range of surfaces, have a high degree of abrasion resistance and was made using the latest vulcanized rubber of the time.

Traditional Carrarmato lugs

In 1954, the first ever successful summit of K2 was made by an Italian expedition wearing Vibram rubber on their soles.

Here's an early example of Vibram soles on a pair of 1950's Engineer Boots

Little known fact...to me: Vibram is pronounced "Veebrum" where the "Vi" in Vibram sounds like a hard "V" and the "bram" ryhmes with "drum." The name Vibram was created from the name of the company's founder, Vitale Bramani.