Johannes Quodt and Chris Wichert, who'd met while doing MBAs at Wharton, got the idea for KOIO in 2014 after buying an overpriced pair of sneakers in a Manhattan boutique and deciding to make their own instead, sold directly to the customer rather than through that kind of retail markup. They visited 34 factories in Italy before settling on a manufacturer in Florence, where each pair is now made by a team of 42 artisans. The company is based in New York, with production staying entirely in that one Florence factory.