Vibram

The story of Vibram is a story of two New England disc golfers, Aaron Ala and Steve Dodge. Ala worked for Vibram as a chemist, and Steve Dodge was looking for his next best thing.

Ala had convinced Vibram to dabble in disc golf with rubber teepads that never caught on, but shortly afterwards, Dodge sold the idea of rubber frisbee golf discs to Vibram Management, and was promptly put in charge of the Vibram’s Disc Golf division.

The discs were beautiful. Most were multicolored from being made from different colored plastic trimmings. They covered the full weight range and developed a following. Its Ridge putter proved particularly popular.

The brand’s X-Link plastic came in Firm and Medium, and eventually Glow and (Medium) Granite, a speckled version.

In 2014 Vibram introduced its Four20, and overstable max distance driver. Shortly thereafter someone must have tattled to management what “420” means to popular culture, and the Four20 was renamed, rendering the original Four20 one of the hottest items among collectors.

Vibram lost some lift when Steve Dodge departed in 2015. And in 2018, Vibram stopped producing discs completely. There have been soooooo many rumors in the subsequent years that Vibram will start producing discs again, but officially, they are just rumors. The only real evidence of a return can be found in an Ultiworld article from 2021 where a Vibram spokesperson said “We are conducting some early-stage consumer research.” Meaning, at this time, no one knows what the future will hold for Vibram and its place in disc golf.