History
Paragon Orthotics
Our History
Leaders in Orthotics since 1975
About Us
1975
Getting Started
Three quarters of the way through the 20th century, the market for prescription foot orthotics was brand new. Dr. Glenn Cornwell DPM, saw the need for serious minded doctors to begin pioneering the industry to ensure that quality devices were available.
With a couple of small tools and an ambition to provide the highest quality orthotics to his fellow practitioners, Paragon Orthotic Laboratory got it’s start in Dr. Cornwell’s garage, in Victoria, B.C.
1984
Building a Community
With the launch of our first newsletter in 1984, we sought to start a conversation about biomechanical issues that may be of interest to our community of practitioners. Still going strong to this day, our newsletter has kept up with the times to try and tackle subjects of the moment.
It has served as an intellectual forum for hundreds of doctors who have written articles for us, and we take great pride in it’s contribution to the industry.
1985
Pioneering An Industry
Since it’s founding 10 years earlier, Paragon had grown to fully embrace it’s research and development DNA. From small improvements to big, the growing team of technicians knew that a better way was always just around the corner.
This ambition and attention to quality turned Paragon from a business in a garage, into one of North America’s leading Orthotic Laboratories.
1997
Embracing Technology
Around the turn of the millenium, new technologies began to produce compelling results. We embraced them whole-heartedly, as we saw the evidence of superior quality in the final product.
Routers, Computer-Aided-Design systems, and new workflow softwares revolutionized our manufacturing process. From this point on, it was Paragon 2.0. Our highly skilled craftsmen now had the finest tools available to work with.
2010
The Modern Age
As with any industry growing as quickly as ours, the market can often become saturated with many players, and a “race to the bottom” mentality can start as a by-product of competition. Prices, and quality of product can start to free fall. The early 2000’s in the orthotic industry were no different.
Ignoring what others were doing, and sticking to our customer-first DNA, we kept improving our technology and our process, and have enjoyed our most successful period.
2020
The Future
The previous 12 months have seen our biggest period of reinvestment and growth to date, and we couldn’t be more excited about the next 12 months. We’ve been working on some exciting products and systems to make the quality of our orthotics better than ever.
Holding true to the values that Dr. Cornwell infused in Paragon almost 50 years ago, we look forward to maintaining our place on the cutting-edge of the industry.
