Oliverland Consulting
People • Fit • Performance
Where Footwear Fit Meets Performance
About Oliverland Consulting
Oliverland Consulting was founded by Dr. Wing Fa Oliver Chan following more than 25 years of experience across the footwear industry and doctoral research into occupational footwear fit.
Her professional experience spans footwear development, sourcing, manufacturing and international trade, together with direct observations of wearers in retail settings. During much of this career, however, the question of whether footwear fitted the wearer appropriately was not a central focus.
Footwear fit became a specific area of investigation when she began examining her doctoral research question concerning the relationship between footwear fit and related foot and lower-limb injuries. This research highlighted that appropriate fit is influenced not only by shoe size, but also by the choices available, how footwear is selected and fitted, and how its suitability is evaluated during use.
These findings, combined with her footwear-industry experience and practical observations, led to the development of Oliverland Consulting around Footwear Fit Management—bringing together industry knowledge, research and field-based observations to support more informed and appropriate footwear choices.
Dr. Wing Fa Oliver Chan
Dr. Chan’s career began in Hong Kong in footwear buying and product coordination, including work connected to licensed collections for the Walt Disney brand. She subsequently gained experience in footwear production, co-managed a footwear trading company, oversaw sample development, and worked with lasts, outsoles and other footwear components.
Throughout this period, she travelled extensively and worked closely with manufacturers and material suppliers across the footwear sector. Her main responsibility was sales and marketing, although her role also involved quality supervision, shipment control and logistics, providing direct insight into the practical coordination required to move footwear from development and production through to delivery.
After moving to France, her experience expanded to include startup support, consumer sales and the creation of Bgreen, a footwear brand developed to explore more responsible approaches to footwear design and production.
This career has given her a cross-functional understanding of the footwear sector and the ability to examine footwear from multiple perspectives. Through Oliverland Consulting, she brings together product development, manufacturing, commercial practice, user experience and applied research to support a more integrated understanding of footwear fit.
Where The Work Began
The roots of this work emerged from personal experience. While living in France as a full-time mother, Dr. Chan found that there were very few suitable options for providing her child with comfortable indoor footwear for school.
In response to this limited choice, she created Bgreen in 2008. Working directly with a footwear factory, she developed the prototypes, sourced environmentally responsible materials from manufacturers and created a collection of children’s indoor shoes made with bamboo.
Bgreen represented an early stage in Dr. Chan’s awareness of the relationship between footwear choices, fit and comfort. Although footwear fit had not yet become a formal area of research, the project showed how limited product options could affect a person’s ability to find footwear suited to their needs.
This attention to footwear fit and comfort developed further when she selected occupational footwear fit as the subject of her doctoral research. What began as a practical concern about finding appropriate footwear gradually became a structured investigation into the relationship between the foot, the footwear and the choices available to the wearer.
Research With Practical Intent
Dr. Chan reflects on the development and practical purpose of her doctoral research.
“If the lessons drawn here are implemented, future generations of soldiers will not adapt to their boots; their boots will finally adapt to them.”
— Dr. Wing Fa Oliver Chan, concluding statement of her DBA dissertation
My doctoral research began with a question about military boot fit and footwear provision. Its initial purpose was to investigate and understand the problem, rather than to develop a commercial solution.
During the fieldwork, however, the subject became increasingly tangible. Survey responses, onsite observations and conversations with frontline professionals revealed not only footwear-fit concerns, but also the practical constraints surrounding issued footwear — limited choices, replacement cycles, budgets and the expectation that wearers adapt to what is available.
Some encounters stayed with me. Police officers thanked me simply for taking an interest in the subject. Other professionals described discomfort while continuing to wear footwear they knew was not well adapted to them because their practical alternatives were limited.
After more than 25 years working across the footwear industry, I believed there was room for a different approach. This led me to extend the research beyond identifying the problem and to explore how footwear-fit information from the field could contribute to better organisational decisions.
The dissertation therefore developed A1.2, a conceptual managerial feedback model connecting footwear provision, fitting practices, wearer experience and organisational decision-making.
The research was also guided by a broader principle expressed in the dissertation: “Ensuring proper fit is an act of respect toward those who serve, reflecting an institution’s commitment to both efficiency and human welfare.”
Following the completion of the DBA, this research-based managerial thinking evolved into the Corporate Footwear Fit Program (CFFP) — Oliverland Consulting's structured approach for applying Footwear Fit Management within organisations through education, procurement, fitting processes and continuing feedback.
Education
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DBA, FEDE Paris, 2022–2025, Mention Très Honorable.
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EMBA, Digital Strategy & E-Business, ESG Executive Paris, 2019–2021.
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Bachelor, European International Marketing, Énaco, France, 2018–2019.
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Languages: French, English, Cantonese (native), Mandarin.
When Footwear-Fit Choices Are Limited
Limited footwear-fit choices can create challenges for organisations, footwear-sector professionals and individual wearers. These challenges may arise not only from shoe size, but also from the options available and how footwear is selected, fitted and managed.
Oliverland Consulting was developed around the recognition that people should not always be expected to adapt to footwear that does not adequately accommodate their feet.
Whether you represent an organisation, work within the footwear industry or have an individual footwear-fit question, Oliverland Consulting welcomes conversations about the challenges you face and the opportunities to support more informed and appropriate footwear choices.