When former French professional footballer Joseph Heckel hung up his boots in 1948, he set out to use his expertise to craft the ideal football boot. As the son of a shoemaker, Heckel was able to perfectly blend the skills he had gained from the family trade with his experience as a player. At the time, most football boots featured a hard toe cap. This allowed for more powerful kicks, but it also made the boot very rigid. Another issue was that the studs would often snap off because of the firm ground.
With the invention of a football boot without a hard toe cap and with screw-on studs, he was 10 years ahead of adidas. The newly developed boot was a real success. Until the late 1950s, the French national team sourced their boots from Heckel's factory in La Walck, Alsace.
In the 1970s, the market for personal protective equipment underwent significant development. As brands such as adidas grew in popularity, Heckel decided to specialize in safety footwear and founded Heckel Sécurité in 1970. In the decades that followed, Heckel continued to grow and established itself as one of the leading brands for safety footwear.
In 2001, uvex took over the footwear specialist Heckel. The merger secured the future of the business and brought new momentum to the company. The Heckel brand continues to operate independently today and is the second largest brand for safety footwear within the uvex group.
Heckel safety footwear is designed for extreme conditions, such as in steelworks, on ships or in the mountains. To withstand these conditions, Heckel developed MACSOLE technology. This ensures that the rubber soles are extremely resistant to abrasion, heat and chemicals. In addition, the soles exceed the EN standard for slip resistance and provide exceptional insulation against cold and heat.
