HandsFree Labs Launches Blue Ox™, a New Hands-Free Work Boot Brand for the Trades

The patented technologies that power Kizik footwear bring a new approach to a jobsite staple that has been stuck in the past.

LINDON, Utah, Oct. 1, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- HandsFree Labs, Inc. ("HFL"), the innovation and IP engine behind Kizik®, today announced the launch of Blue Ox, a new work boot brand built for tradespeople. Blue Ox brings HFL's hands-free step-in technologies to two boot styles built to meet jobsite safety and durability standards.

The tools of the job, including the boots, have remained relatively unchanged for generations. Lace-up, pull-on, and zip-up styles still dominate the category, in work where hands are already busy with tools and materials.

HFL is stepping into that gap. The company was founded in 2017 around a simple problem: shoes require hands to put on. Since then, HFL has built a portfolio of more than 200 granted and pending patents and applied its hands-free technologies across athletic, lifestyle, and casual footwear, most visibly through Kizik. Blue Ox is HFL's newest brand, and its first built specifically for industrial and protective footwear, applying proprietary hands-free technologies to a category defined by safety requirements, tougher materials, and long days on the job.

"We started HandsFree Labs to bring the power of hands-free footwear into everyday life," said Mike Pratt, Founder of HandsFree Labs. "Blue Ox is proof that idea belongs on a jobsite too, and it's one of the toughest, grittiest tests we've put the technology through yet."

"Building a hands-free boot for the jobsite is a different challenge than building a sneaker," said Jason Lee, Chief Operating Officer of HFL. "An electrician moving panel to panel, a framer up and down a ladder all day, a rancher climbing in and out of a truck, none of them want to stop and tie their boots every morning, or touch a boot covered in mud and grease to pull it off at night. Blue Ox does both, hands-free. We built it around exactly that, without cutting corners on what a work boot has to hold up to."

Two styles make up the Blue Ox launch lineup. Stockton has a moc toe and wedged outsole, built with farming, ranching, and other outdoor trades in mind; the wedge shape helps the boot shed mud on uneven ground. Magna takes a different shape, a round toe and heeled outsole favored by welders and electricians who don't want debris catching at the toe. Steel toe or soft toe, both styles share a waterproof build and a Goodyear welt, stitched rather than glued, so a worn boot gets resoled instead of replaced. Steel toe versions carry ASTM F2413-24 certification for impact and electrical hazard protection.

Both styles use one of HFL's proprietary hands-free entry mechanisms. Step in, and it locks in. Step on the heel, and it releases. No bending down. No hands needed.

About Blue Ox
Blue Ox is an all-new work boot brand from HandsFree Labs, built for the people who work, build, and maintain the world around them. Blue Ox launches with two styles, Stockton and Magna, available at blueoxwork.com.

About HandsFree Labs
Founded in 2017, HandsFree Labs is the innovation and IP engine behind Kizik®, the world's original hands-free footwear brand. With over 200 patents and applications globally, HFL empowers world-leading footwear brands with innovative hands-free technologies. Blue Ox is HFL's first application of its hands-free platform to the work boot category.

For media:
Ashley Sampson, HandsFree Labs
[email protected] | 801-471-6446
[email protected]

SOURCE Blue Ox