The inventor and founder of Kaepa athletic shoes died on May 7, 2021. He was 89. Kaepa shoes would become one of the most popular and best-selling brands of athletic shoes in the U.S. and Japan in the 1980s. Tom had invented the two-laced, split-vamp shoes by happenstance, while playing tennis at a tournament in Milwaukee, Wisconsin in 1962. His shoelace broke. Tying the laces into two separate bows he recognized the better performance of the foot with the dual-lace fastening system. Tom later expanded on the two-lace idea by cutting in ... Log in to view full article.