Why DAPS?

When brothers Rich and Dave Goldstein started playing pickleball, they did what everyone does—they tried every shoe that claimed to be “for the sport.” But nothing fit the bill. Tennis shoes felt wrong. Repurposed sneakers lacked support. Nothing hit the sweet spot between performance, comfort, and style.

So they tapped into their roots. As fourth-generation shoemakers with decades of experience outfitting major retailers, Rich and Dave—alongside longtime friend Keith Goldberg—set out to build something better. They didn’t want to slap a pickleball label on a tennis shoe. They wanted to make the best-performing, most comfortable, and most stylish shoe on the court.

After years of development and over 10 prototypes tested by everyone from 3.5 rec players to pros like Zane Ford, DAPS was born. Engineered specifically for the dynamic movement of doubles play, the DESI Low and DESI Mid shoes are built from the sole up with elite features: a carbon fiber shank for stability, ETPU foam for bounce, Blumaka NonSlip insoles for control, and precision-tuned traction for those hard stops and quick cuts.

These aren’t just shoes—they’re gear. And they’ve already outperformed the big brands in lab testing for energy return, efficiency, and speed.

Oh, and they look damn good doing it.

Whether you’re grinding through a three-hour rec match or grabbing dinner after the game, DAPS is the only shoe that feels just as good on the court as it looks off it.