The Scurdge of the White Shoe

In New York the term white shoes was used in the 1950s to describe large successful law firms which were predominately White Anglo Saxon Protestant (WASP). The fashion for suede white (oxford) shoes called white bucks, was one which enjoyed vogue particularly among the elite male Ivy Leaguers attending Yale and other top universities. In the rarefied atmosphere of university campus those with pristine clean shoes were considered the top tier of society others with grubbier bucks were more likely drones and workers. For a short time the term ‘terribly shoe’ was used to describe a wannabe social climber. As many of the elite became leading professional types working in family business in the influential district of New York the term ‘white shoe firm’ came to represent nepotism and privilege. By the 70s “white shoes” referred to any large investment bank and/or security firm. Later the term was used to describe dishonest traders usually politicians and or developers involved in shady deals. In the 17th century the term ‘white devil’ was used in the contemporary proverb "the white devil is worse than the black." By the same token modern reference to ‘white shoes’ refers to the way a privilaged class passes itself off as good, honest and trustworthy. The events leading up to the recent economic downturn may be recorded historically as "the scurdge of the white shoe."

Goodyear's World of Rubber to close

According to the American Association of Museums (AAM) there are at least 300 corporate museums in the United States. These are private museums, financed by the companies and highlight the evolution of the corporation. Among the better known are the World of Coca-Cola in Atlanta, Hershey’s Hershey Story: The Museum on Chocolate Avenue in Pennsylvania. Intel has a corporate museum in Santa Clara, California; Anheuser-Busch (beer) has their corporate museum in St. Louis; Harley-Davidson have a big museum in Milwaukee; and Michelin opened their corporate museum ''l'Aventure Michelin'' in France to promote the company and its products. The cost of up keep is considerable and although these museums do attract a fair bit of public attention some, more than others. Sadly it was recently confirmed that Goodyear's World of Rubber will close its doors at the end of this month. The museum is in Akron (Texas) and is dedicated to rubber. Opened 61 years ago on the company’s 50th anniversary, the corporate museum is dedicated to the history of rubber-making and Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. Display items include a World War II Corsair aircraft fuselage, NASA lunar buggy tire, Indy-style race cars, airship memorabilia, Goodyear’s former chemicals and shoe product lines as well as a replica of Charles Goodyear's original workshop. It is hoped many of the attractions will be distributed in the area where the public will still be able to see them. On offer to the last visitors to the museum as free copies of two books — The Goodyear Story, by Maurice O'Reilly and The Legend of Goodyear — The First 100 years, by Jeffrey L. Rodengen.

Faux is fashionable

Fashion-conscience.com is a UK based company dedicated to promote eco-friendly fashion clothing. Their website is featuring some new vegan shoes from leading designers OlsenHaus, Neu Aura and Melissa. More and more designers, design houses and manufacturers are advocating footwear without the use of animal by-products. New season fashions include ankle shoe boots, slip on heels, and chunky strapped sandals all produced in factories which adhere to eco standards in recycling and non-use of toxic chemicals where possible.

Here I am again

Am back apparently

Foldable shoes will stop temple theft

Being a sinner I have always wondered how many shoes are nicked when left outside a place of worship. Not that I have been tempted but colleagues in the retail business are always amazed if not damn right frustrated at the number of shoes they loose to a band of anomymous kleptomaniacs who seem to want a to remove shoes from shop displays. Seems shoe thelft outside the temple is fairly common too. Nokil Singh is a student at the National Institute of Design (NID), Ahmedabad and he has come up with a set of designs for foldable shoes. For convenience outdoor mojdi style shoes can be folded and kept in a pocket, handbag, or just carried in the hand. The shies fold to no bigger than a handkerchief and are held secure with snap-buttons. Nokil likes the idea of foldable clothing and has already designed a foldable raincoat.

Ecco Friendly Shoes: Could be a winning factor?

The Soheim Cup is about to ‘T Off’ in the US and the European team will be sporting special ECCO shoes (with a Flag of European logo) for the occassion. The tournament begins on Friday (tomorrow) at Rich Harvest Farms in Illinois, with the best female golfers from Europe taking on the best of the US. ECCO golf shoes are already worn by Thomas Bjørn and Colin ‘Monty’ Montgomerie.

Jelly for me this summer

Have you ever wanted to stand on a jelly fish washed up on the sand. Well believe me from someone who has (accidently) it is not a pleasant sensation. However the same cannot be said for the new Jelly shoes which are likely to be the latest sensation next summer. Like the Pheonix rising from the fire the Jelly should prove to be the next generation Crocs. Advancements in plastics and similar materials during the past 20 years have made it possible not only to mold a shoe to the foot, but to make shoes odor-resistant or perfume-scented. The new order Jelly is better able to handle friction and sweat than it was in them olden days. Brands like Yves Saint Laurent, Givenchy, See by Chloé and Tory Burch have all added plastic footwear to their collections. A pioneer in the field is the Brazilian brand Melissa, the designer branch of Grendene shoes, one of the world’s largest plastic shoe companies. For the past 30 years Melissa has worked to produce jelly shoes that have a designer edge. The company has recently created partnerships with designers like Vivienne Westwood, Alexandre Herchcovitch, Isabela Capeto and Karim Rashid. Plastic shoes are also eco-friendly with many made from recyclable materials and these in turn can be recycled to create new designs.

Lightning breaks the record but Puma take the credit

Usain 'Lightning' Bolt has shattered his own world record and delivered a stunning first place finish in the 100m at the Olympic Stadium in Berlin recently. The Jamaican sprinter clocked the fastest time ever recorded for the 100m race at 9.58 seconds wearing his PUMA, custom-designed Theseus Pro sprint spike. The PUMA YAAM are now the fastest shoes in the world. This sprint spike was developed by a team of PUMA designers and technicians who studied and measured Bolt's stride and foot form. They created a custom-made sprint spike to suit the sprinter’s body kinetics. Manufacturer’s claims the shoes contain a lightweight carbon plate to add speed and power might be construed as ‘performance enhancing’ footwear which is not ‘officially’ allowed. Since the introduction of computerised timing the world record has never before been broken by such a big margin and since record breaking occurrences have been few and far between in the last decade, questions may be asked.

Novel marketing from Nomis

Slipp-R: That's the way to do it

Statistics show that there are over 2,000 toe injuries every year in Canada. Safetytoes International Inc., manufacturer of the 'Slipp-R', has produced a video of Irish musicians and dancers wearing its steel toe overshoes. The video was filmed in Toronto using professional Celtic musicians and dancers from the Brogue Celtic Music and Dance Company. Two of the dancers are wearing flat-soled runners while the third dancer is wearing traditional Irish dance shoes with a full heel. The Slipp-R is a purpose-designed safety overshoe with an all-flat sole. Unlike other overshoe styles with a moulded heel, the Slipp-R has no excess material underfoot when worn with flat-soled outer shoes. The Slipp-R safetytoe overshoe costs many times less than regular safety footwear. It provides for the same legal toe protection as any 'CSA Approved' safety shoe.

Mad about pleather

Time was plastic shoes were daggy and only worn by the ‘have nots’ now thanks to vegans and animal rights groups plastic is not so drastic. The recent popular surge in negative heeled shoes has now been endorsed by vegans keen to buy footwear not made or tested on animals. Pleather is all the more attractive when made from recycled materials. A new range of high fashion vegan shoes will be available this Autumn from NeuAura. Their Fall Collection has been designed and created using animal-free materials. Comfort is a byword in fashionable shoes and the new range of heels have added mesh lining, padded insoles for support and flexible rubber soles for additional comfort. Boots continue to dominant trhis season as vegan boots prove rather difficult to find. NeuAura have solved the problem with a range of affordable animal-free boots. NeuAura footwear is made in an eco-friendly factory in Brazil. The company also gives back to the community by donating 10% of all online proceeds to two charities every season.

Nude Footwear are all the rage

Australians are well known for going au naturel and when it comes to feet, buff or thronged is the rule however a Melbourne based company ,Nude Footwear are taking the shod fashionista by storm. Founders Dean and Selina Kolthek (designer) launched the brand five years ago now Nude Shoes has become the first Australasian brand to be sold through Gap's new online store, Piperlime. Their designs have a vintage feel but with modern day comfort and have obviously proven popular. All the designs are done in-house and Nude develops close to 500 new styles every year across its three ranges - Nude, Skin by Nude and Soles by Nude. This year Nude Footwear will produce more than a million pairs of shoes.

Original equipment manufacturers in Crisis?

According to recent reports in the business and financial press the footwear export industry may have a crisis after it was discovered Yue Yuen, (the largest original equipment manufacturer (OEM) of shoes for Nike and adidas), recorded a loss in net income in the first seven months. Seems in China both increased costs of raw materials and labor are having an adverse effect on production. Nike has already closed its self-owned shoe factory in China and will transfer its production base to Vietnam and Indonesia, where the labor force and materials are cheaper.

Wearable Technology: GPS Shoes

A complication many people face living with Alzheimer's disease is they wander from familiar territory and get lost. This causes much worry to family and carers as well as put the at risk person in danger. Developers have produced a shoe embedded with Global Positioning System technology which tracks the location and movement history of its wearer. This information is in turn relayed to a monitoring centre through cellular networks. Concerned family members and friends can log in to a web site or receive alerts that will pinpoint the location of the person wearing the shoes. Dubbed “The Ambulator”, the prototype shoe was developed by GTX Corp., and Aetrex Worldwide. Plans are to market the shoes next spring. The shoes will cost approximately $300 (US) per pair plus a monthly monitoring fee at about $18 per month.

Best dressed Atavar: Whatever next?

Empire of Sports is a multisport 3D game where cyber competitors can match their individual skills or join with others in team sports. Empire of Sports combines the depth of role-play and the competitive dynamics of sports games in an ambitious persistent world, where players can meet in real time from all over the world and play sports together. Each player controls a single character, or avatar (animated graphic), which they play with through the game. With practice the avatar becomes better at playing the sports as each game progresses. Players are able to form their own teams and clubs, and tournaments and competitions are organized. The player is able to compete against AI (artificial intelligence) controlled characters or other players depending on their choice. Currently the Emire of Sport hosts competitive play (friendly and official mode) for football, tennis, skiing, basketball, bobsleigh and track & field. If you are keen to start practicing virtual sport all you need to do is download the game client , register and start playing for free! On of the novelties of the game is it is possible to kit your Atavar with sports equipment of choice such as soccer boots. Partnership with companies like Nomis will soon see software which allows your Atavar to demonstrate the boots performance in the virtual world. Some experts believe if this catches on then the virtual world will become a major marketing tool in the future.

Nomis Football Boots: Yet another Australian Marvel

The verdict is out and subscribers to Footy-Boots.com have voted NOMIS as the winner in the prestigious category “Outrageous football boot of the year 2009”. According to the manufacturer the Spark FG NXGEN has proven popular because of a combination of new technologies including one called Dual Control grip enhancing treatment in the tanning process. This allows hi-resolution design to be incorporated onto the NOMIS leather upper. Laboratory tests have shown the Dual Control Technology provides significantly more grip in dry conditions compared to other standard leather boots. The boots’ leather is soft, strong, and breathable, providing excellent sweat resistance and totally colourfast. Again according to the manufacturer this gives better grip gives more control, power, swerve and ultimate performance. Nomis boots also contain sole plates to protect the metatarsals and other key bone structures whilst allowing rotational movement of the foot. Designers have also changed the shape of studs and repositioned them to give greater pressure distribution across the feet without loss to traction and pivot. The boots are made from kangaroo and quality bovine skins and treated to stay the same weight during game play. The outsole is specially treated to reduce the amount of mud, grass, and dirt collected during normal game play. These technologies was been developed over time and with much consultation as well as extensive wear trials to ensure the boots could stand up to demands of competitive football. The Swiss based company NOMIS Sports AG was founded in Australia by Simon Skirrow in 2003. Using patented technologies and quality materials the company focus on delivering the optimum combination of performance, comfort and modern design in a football boot. Nomis boots are available on-line at shopnomis.com

Second hand shoes: Is this a false economy?

In a throw away society when your electrical appliance go on the bung it was easier to buy the latest model than try to repair it. Cheaper too. Same goes for shoes but that mind-set may now have changed due to the economic climate. People are looking for ways to extend the life of their belongings. Already there has been a significant raise in the number of people saving money by getting their shoes fixed at cobblers. Shoe repair however will never appeal to customers who primarily buy low-cost footwear because of the way the mass produced shoes are made making repair either impossible or more expensive than the cost of a replacement pair. Sales of good quality footwear have suffered as more people clamber to buy cheaper shoes. Is this a false economy? Non moulded shoes constructed with separate uppers and sole can be easily repaired and component parts replaced. The cost of quality footwear is higher than mass produced moulded shoes however sales in second hand shoes has also risen and people are having them repaired for a fraction of the original cost.

Ban high heels in the work place: What a palaver!

The Society of Chiropodists and Podiatrists, is a Trades Union Congress (TUC) affiliate and has put a motion on the preliminary agenda of the next Trades Union Congress annual conference which reads:

“Congress calls on all employers who have dress codes that promote high heels to examine the hazards their women workers face and ensure that proper risk assessments are carried out, and that where these show the wearing of high heels is hazardous the high heels should be replaced with sensible and comfortable shoes.”
The UK Press never one to let facts get in the way of a good story have reported this as “The Trades Union Congress wants to ban high heels in the workplace on the grounds that they are sexist and even dangerous.”

The result of which has brought a tirade of response both for and against choice of what women should wear in the work place. The issue raised by the SoCP motion is genuine and relates specifically to women in the workforce compleled by dress code to wear inappropriate footwear for appearance sake irrespective of any ill effects this may cause. The motion relates to employer’s duty of care with nothing whatsoever to do with banning heels in the workplace.

Plantar Fasciitis and Gangstapod

Still my favourite rap on the absence of evidence based practice in the treatment of heel spurs.

Greenpeace and a sustainable leather sourcing policy

It is reported deforestation in the Amazon Rainforestcontinues at an alarming pace. One of the main commercial reasons for denuding the forrest is not for the timber alone but ground clearance for cattle ranching. Brazil has a thriving cattle industry, supplying beef and leather. Greenpeace released the findings of a detailed undercover investigation into Brazil’s cattle industry and named many well known footwear companies that were using leather sourced from recently deforested areas. Nike were quick to respond and announced they were working with Greenpeace to develop a sustainable leather sourcing policy. This week a number of other companies have followed suit, announcing a moratorium on Amazonian leather from recently deforested areas.

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Bright Walk: Shine a light

Out in the dark is always dangerous no matter what light coloured clothing is worn. Well next time you are driving past a popular running spot don’t be surprised to see shoes lit up if Bright Walk footwear catches on. "Bright Walk" shoes were designed by Alberto Villarreal and have built-in Piezo-electric sensors which convert impact from running or walking into static energy that powers electro luminescent polymers to produce light.

Stiletto Heels: Charm and Fascination

The Museo del Traje Madrid holds a permanent collection of fashion history from early tunics, doublets, and delicately embroidered accessories of the 16th century through the French influence of the Bourbon and Napoleonic eras of the 18th and 19th centuries, up to great 20th-century couturiers like Fortuny, Balenciaga, and Dior, as well as contemporary designers like Montana and Miyake. The museum features hands-on fabric displays and clever body-distorting mirrors with the opportunity to try on modern reproductions of corsets, hoops skirts, clunky boots. There are two current exhibitions. Throughout August, “Stiletto Heels: Charm and Fascination,” traces the evolution of spike heels from their birth in the early 1950s in the town of Vigevano, Italy. The second exhibition, “100% 20th Century” is an indulgent run through the museum’s closet of 20th-century couture, from Paul Poiret to Tom Ford.