Protocell sneaker: shoes for the future

Shamees Aden is a designer and researcher who wants to develop a concept for running shoes that would be 3D-printed from synthetic biological material . The Protocell sneakers are customized for the wearer’s foot so that they fit like a second skin. The protocells have the capability to inflate and deflate in response to pressure. The special material requires a little extra care and the unworn shoes should be stored in a jar full of protocell liquid. Treated like a plant and stored in natural resources the cells can repair and rejuvenate. So far Protocell sneakers are in prototype mode but Aden thinks protocell sneakers will be available by mid century.

God Save My Shoes Production Diary - Designers High on Heels - by Julie ...

Greetings of the Season

May I extend to one and all best greetings of the Season

The tale of Nelson Mandela's boots

God Save My Shoes - Production Diary - EPISODE 3: THE SHALL BE SHOES

Zhang Fuxing likes heavy shoes

Zhang Fuxing (52) is a Chinese factory worker who believes walking in huge iron shoes weighing more than 440 pounds can cure back pain and haemorrhoids. He calims the strength to wear the heavyweight footwear comes from the Chinese spiritual martial art of Qigong. It took him over a minute to take 10 paces, but he claims to walk up to 50 feet each day in the shoes, which he has gradually increased in weight. Zhang believes his shoes to be the heaviest in China, but admits that competition from a number of other eccentrics renders his claim uncertain.

Zhang Zhenghui is from Changsha and shares a Guinness World Record for walking 10 metres backwards in heavyweight iron boots. Zhenghui owns gold painted weighing 200kg shoes. Lai Yingying is an entertainer who also wears heavy shoes (300kg) and runner, Liu Mei, took to exercising in metal footwear after growing bored of tying sandbags onto his trainers,.

Zhang Fuxing will make you a pair of weighted metal footwear in his small factory near his hometown in the northern city of Tangshan. He sells them online. A snazzy red pair weighing 22 pounds each costs 550 yuan ($90), while the heaviest, at 132 pounds, sell for about $235.

We want your shoes : Call for donations

The Shoe Collection at Northamptonshire Museum & Art Gallery is the largest collection of footwear heritage and design in the world. With a vast shoe rack of 12,000 pairs, The Shoe Collection at Northampton Museums and Art Gallery is of national and international importance and consists of a rich resource covering footwear design and fashion, manufacture, social and political history. The Northampton Museum and art Gallery is actively looking to develop its shoe collections through gifts and bequests in the following areas.

Shoes with stories
Shoes that you worked in, met the love of your life in, wore on a holiday, or took part in an extraordinary challenge in. The shoes might reflect exceptional or everyday stories.

Designer shoes
In particular Vivienne Westwood, Gucci, Chanel, Alexander McQueen, Jimmy Choo, Roger Vivier, André Courrèges or early Salvatore Ferragamo.

Celebrity shoes
Shoes that have belonged to famous or significant people

Smart Shoe: The race is on

Researchers from the Fraunhofer Institute for Photonic Microsystems have developed a specialized running shoe with sensors and microelectronics to help prevent future injuries. The electronics are integrated into the sole of the shoe to help measure the biomechanical data of the athlete and also evaluate the runner’s form in real-time. Pulse-rate watches and chest straps record only vital signs like breathing and heart rate. In contrast, the running shoe medically evaluates and monitors training while jogging. It informs the runner of incorrect foot position, asymmetric loading, or warns of exhaustion or overload. The measurement system can be installed and removed from the soles of the shoes fairly easily. The pair of shoes can also be charged by simply hooking them up to the charger. Using bluetooth technology to help transmit data like the runner’s speed and location. The new kicks also include technology like accelerometers and GPS sensors to help capture the biomechanical signals from the body. All of the data can be transmitted through Bluetooth to the runner’s smartphone through an app that evaluates the data in a split second with the help of special algorithms that give the athlete feedback on training performance. The application can also help give runners suggestions about their running form or their training routine to help prevent injury. The biomechanical data is also transferred during the run from the smartphone to a website for further processing, evaluation and display. Runners can set a customized training program based on this data with personalized performance goals that are constantly updated. The team said they are currently working on another version of the microelectronics and sensors in order to make the shoes waterproof, light and more durable. The team said the high-tech shoes will be available for sale by the beginning of 2015.

Small Steps Project: Celebrity shoe charity auction

Small Steps Project collects celebrity shoes to auction and the proceeds provide shoes and emergency aid to children and families who live on landfill sites around the world. Bid for Ronnie Wood’s wellington boots

If shoes could talk by Jennifer Renee Caden Merdjan

If your shoes could talk, what would they say? Would they sympathize with your day? Reminisce about your experiences? Would they ask to stay on your feet and accompany you on your journeys? Would they spill your secrets? If Shoes Could Talk by Jennifer Renee Caden Merdjan is the title of her book, it's also a trademark of fashion accessories made with images of her shoe sculptures.

About The Book: Get Inspired! Get Motivated! Get Captivated! Learn to see things in a new way. Jennifer Renee Caden Merdjan's artistic shoes tell her story. Colorful pages full of inspiring messages teach you not to forget the past, regardless of how difficult it might have been, but rather to embrace your struggles as you overcome them. In Merdjan's work, the worn-out shoes she uses as the basis for her artistic sculptures symbolize her past. By recycling them into art, she stresses her present attitude of change and hope. The final result, her beautiful shoe sculptures, suggest the renewal of the future and remind the reader that life is too short to focus on the old, worn tears and holes marked on your sole. This book (ISBN #978-0-615-37416-1) will be sold in select locations and events. It is now available at Pylones in NYC (8 Grand Central Terminal station only). Please check in for updates and postings.

Shoe AreYou?® Kristin Cavallari

In this episode, Meghan Cleary speaks to Kristin Cavallari about her shoe line with Chinese Laundry (her D'orsay flats in neon yellow suede are a must-have FYI), her very first pair of Loubou's, and why walking is important.

Shoe Are You?® is the interview show created and hosted by footwear expert and author, Meghan Cleary. Each episode she talks to interesting celebrities, personalities or shoe designers about their shoes. Click on the link to get a free copy of the Shoe Are You?® Stiletto Handbook and shoe giveaway competition .

Shoe AreYou?® Kristin Cavallari from Meghan Cleary on Vimeo.

God Save My Shoes Production Diary - The Extent of Obsession - by Julie ...

Nearly two years since God Save my Shoes was first released, and you thought you had seen it all…! Here are some new, some old, some personal, some of our favorite shoe-moments. Starting today we’ll release a new episode every day of the week for the next month. A daily dose of Holiday shoe-candy… with love –
Julie Benasra