A Warwickshire-based athletic shoe company expects to boost sales by more than £6.7 million after winning approval from the US Army.

UK Gear, based in Nuneaton, has been given the green light to supply its PT-03 running shoes to the army, which spends more than £460 billion a year.

This prestigious seal of approval of the PT-03 running shoe, has been the subject of a rigorous year long trial as part of the US Army’s Running Shoe programme.

The final selection report on the shoe said it was “well suited to the military training environment.’

David Hinde, UK Gear’s founder and chief executive, said: “This highly-prized approval is the successful culmination of three years’ intensive work and I am delighted that PT-03 running shoe has been chosen by the US Army against stiff competition from other international brands.

“It has given us particular pleasure that a training shoe first worn by the British Army should be now adopted by the US military. It is, at the same time, a giant step for UK Gear on the way to meeting our ambition of being the training shoe of choice for military personnel worldwide”

Over the coming year the UK Gear PT-03 shoes will be distributed across the US Army’s reception centres.