Winter Boots big hit with the Brits

Mukluks and Uggs take a step back for it is winter boots that will be on the Chavs’ feet this Christmas. In the UK, ladies winter boots are selling like hot cakes. The change to winter blasts have seen a meteoritic rise in sales of quality fashion boots. Fear of a repeat of last years weather extremes the Brits’ fashionista are determined to be prepared. Snow boots have become a fashion must for the season ahead. Made from the finest fabrics with rich fur linings and a series of unique and elegant designs, winter boots are a must. Originally designed to be worn for walking around a ski resort, ladies winter boots are beautifully styled and feature insulating layers to hold in heat while being completely waterproof with excellent grip to prevent slipping on the ice or getting stuck in the snow. This makes them perfect for the British winter where sleet, snow and icy footpaths are common place. Men’s winter boots are derived from walking boots featuring more rugged, hard wearing and built for trudging through the snow to the shops and shovelling snow out of the drive way. Winter boots have proven to be a unique product, combining high fashion with high performance and usually a suitably high price point to match.

On A Pedestal: From Renaissance Chopines to Baroque Heels

"On A Pedestal: From Renaissance Chopines to Baroque Heels," is the title of an exhibition at the Bata Shoe Museum (runs until Sept. 20, 2010). On display are rarities from around the world featuring the chopine (platform) from 16th century Italy to the fashionable high heel of the 17th-century.

e-tailers:All the way, UK

When it comes to retailing fashion online, the UK is leading the way, with US e-tailers still some way behind, it has been claimed. Recent research carried out by asos the on line fashion store the number of visitors to UK-based fashion sites has increased by 32 per cent year-on-year and translating into sales, which have risen by 47 per cent over the same period. According to one leading fashion e-tailer, this success can be partly attributed to the content of the sites, with UK-based enterprises grasping the need to create a "truly engaging experience" for online consumers far more quickly than their counterparts across the Atlantic. Apparently when it comes to e-sales experts believe the video is a key part of online seeling as well as regular change and update. These findings are supported by an independent report conducted by the UK Office for National Statistics. They reported an ongoing growth in demand for online retail solutions. According to the latest official data, the volume of online retail sales in October 2009 was 3.4 per cent higher than in the same month of 2008, with the biggest rises seen in the textile, clothing and footwear sectors which saw an average growth in sales of 10.7 per cent over the same period.

The LOHAS Movement

The LOHAS movement is a significant group of consumers focused on "Lifestyles of Health and Sustainability" (LOHAS). The demongraphic ranges from adults between 18 and 45 years of age (approx. 19% of the US population)with disposable income. Currently LOHAS is estimated in the US to be worth $209 billion market alone and accounts for about 41 million consumers dedication to a focus on health, the environment, social justice, personal development and sustainable living and are willing to buy products that are fair trade. Europe and Japan have significantly large populations with LOHAS movement preferences. One of the companies sure to get LOHAS patronage is Oliberté (derived from the combination of "Oh" as in "Oh Canada!" with the French word for freedom, liberté), a Canadian Company which operates from out of Africa. Started as a "profit with a purpose" company it is built on using fair trade principles such as guaranteeing factory workers a fair wage, paying farmers above market price for raw materials and keeping environmental impacts in mind. Dedicated to build jobs in Africa, Oliberté wants African people to have jobs for the rest of their lives so that they have good pay and they can take care of themselves and their families. As sales grow his intention is to expand the operations to as many as 10 African nations.

COP15:Don't tell us it can't be done

Timberland has launched “Don’t Tell Us It Can’t Be Done” campaign to challenge government leaders to set standards for emissions at next month's Copenhagen climate change talks (COP15). “Don’t Tell Us It Can’t Be Done” campaign urges the public to get involved in the climate change debate by giving them a forum to let their voices be heard. Timberland hopes to rally the power of individuals and consumers around the world to affect this process positively by challenging government leaders to set standards for emissions. Timberland has taken direct action to reduce its carbon footprint by improving lighting design and using renewable energy sources at Timberland facilities. It is now calling for others to follow them and build all new US stores to Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) specifications. As part of this campaign, individuals can make their voices heard by signing an online petition at or by going through Facebook.com/timberland and Earthkeeper.com.

The petition asks world leaders to come to an agreement on fair and binding climate legislation that clearly sets a limit for greenhouse gas emissions; and then asks them to step aside and let businesses innovate and lead the way to finding solutions to achieve those limits.

You, Your Shoes and 72

Jimmy Choo and Elton John AIDS Foundation have launched a photo competition, ‘You, Your Shoes and 72’, to support the launch of Project PEP, a charity collection that donates 25% of sales to the Simelela Rape Centre in South Africa . The money goes towards providing the HIV-preventative treatment or Post Exposure Prophylaxis (PEP). The course of drugs must be taken within 72 hours of exposure to the virus, hence PEP 72): and counselling to victims of rape in South Africa.

To enter the competition visit the entry page and register.

The winner of the grand prize which will be announced after the competition close on 7th December 2009 will be invited to spend a day of luxury at the Jimmy Choo HQ and choose 7 pairs of shoes and 2 handbags to keep. The 2nd to 10th Prize winners receive one product from the Project PEP collection. The 100 runner up prize winners get a Project PEP Eco bag.

adidas for less than a $1?

adidas are to make trainer which will sell for €1 trainers. The plan is to make the shoes available for millions of people around the world who cannot afford to buy shoes. The original idea came from Bangladesh's Nobel prize winner, Muhammad Yunus, the pioneer of micro-loans which help the poor start their own businesses. Yunus contacted adidas with the idea of creating "social businesses" which generate jobs in the country. The company agreed and will produce shoes in Bangladesh on a non-profit basis. The target is to keep the footwear around €1 (89p) retail but it is most probably going to cost more. Like other sports companies accused of exploitation in the developing world, adidas is keen to improve its image and reputation for social responsibility. The production of the shoes in Bangladesh commences next year but it is not yet decided whether the shoes will carry the Adidas brand or its trademark three stripes design.

Gore-Tex undercover success

The company that make Gore-Tex (the waterproof breathable fabric) will launch themself into the casual footwear market. W.L. Gore & Associates, recently launched a marketing campaign called, "How Far Can One Pair Go?" The fabric is used as a lining in many preparatory shoe collections from companies such as Timberland Co. ; New Balance Athletic Shoe Inc.; and the Clarks Companies . The hiking boot category has remained strong on the market through the recession as people adjust to more pedestrian style holidays. According to the NPD Group Inc., US retail sales, and by contrast, the overall athletic footwear category for the 12-month period ending Sept. 30 were just under $18.6 billion, down 2.4 percent from the same period a year earlier. Part of the "How Far Can One Pair Go?" campaign is a partnership with Soles4Souls, an international shoe charity dedicated to providing shoes to people in need. The campaign encourages consumers to donate shoes or funds to the charity through the end of the year. The company said it will donate $5 to Soles4Souls for each pair of the new casual shoes with Gore-Tex technology purchased through Gore company website during the campaign, up to a maximum total donation of $10,000 (US).

Soul2Sole:DJ~AM shoe auction

DJ Adam Goldstein (aka DJ~AM) died in August 2009. Part of his estate was a large collection of shoes which numbers in the hundreds including Nike, Adidas, Converse, Reebok and BAPE sneakers. He started collecting over 10 years ago. From today many will be auctioned on eBay. The proceeds of the 800 pairs of the DJ’s sneakers for the sale will benefit Goldstein’s namesake non-profit, the DJ AM Memorial Fund. The DJ AM Memorial Fund maintains the legacy of Adam Goldstein through extending his commitment to helping others struggling with addiction. The online auction will begin at 4:30 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 15, and continue though Monday Dec. 16.

In addition to the online auction, LA-based sneaker shop Undefeated (aka UNDFTD) will showcase 18 pairs of Goldstein’s sneakers at their La Brea, Santa Monica and Silverlake stores. The shoes put on display will not be included in the online auction.

Jimmy Choo at H&M

Tamara Mellon has launched a “cheap chic” designer collaboration with high-street fashion chain H&M. The collection includes Jimmy Choo shoes. The Malaysian shoe designer sold his stake in the Jimmy Choo label in 2001. The rumours were he and his former business partner Tamara Mellon parted not on the best of terms. Now Jimmy Choo, the designer focuses his attention on creating couture footwear for individual clients. He grew up in the Malaysian province of Penang, and learned his trade under his father, a successful shoe-maker. His first pair of shoes made when he was aged 12 was for his mother. In his early twenties he came to London to finish his education at Cordwainer’s College in Hackney (now part of the London College of Fashion). Diana, Princess of Wales was quick to pick up on the shoemaker’s shoes and continued to wear his footwear throughout. The name Jimmy Choo became synonymous with fashionista and even Cherie Blair is an ardent fan of his expensive shoes (sic. surprise, surprise). Mellon’s Jimmy Choo for H&M shoes are available in heels; platforms; and boots.

Cheap as clogs:Cloggs.com.uk

Online shopping in the UK is predicted to grow by 13.3% in 2009; accounting for 10% of the UK’s total spending. Consumers are turning to the internet more and more as they realise that branded products like footwear and electrical goods tend to be cheaper online. Shoe retailers like Cloggs.co.uk have introduced discount days on their website. To take advantage visit the website on a discount day and collect a promotional code which can be redeemed at the checkout. Cloggs.co.uk stocks over 20,000 items including its popular range of UGGs, Fitflop Boots, Timberland Boots and Caterpillar Boots.

World Diabetes Day

Saturday 14th November is World Diabetes Day

Children's shoe sizes: What's that all about?

The first description of a shoe sizing system was made and recorded by British genealogist, Randle Holme in the Academy of Armory and Blazon in 1688. The UK System starts from zero, at 102 mm with 8.4mm (1/4 ") between whole sizes (4.2mm between half sizes). Adults sizes range from size 1 to size 15 (equivalent to 12"). The UK Shoe Size System for children is divided into 13 parts. Sizes start at five inches long and every fourth part of an inch thereafter until, size 12. Size 13 or short 13 and consists of length of 8 inches and a quarter. This also starts the Adult size 1. Until the time of Queen Victoria, children's shoes were made as miniature adult shoes, with no special feature for growing feet. The children of the Middle Class in Victorian times wore shoe styles more akin to fancy dress which may account for why the design of today's shoes contain motifs which refer to previous ages and classic periods of history. Going barefoot is still within living memory and many children went without footwear as a normal practice and not through poverty. Work shoes were often handed down with the better off wearing them before passing them to siblings. It is not clear why a unit of 13 was used to judge a critical point between child sizes and adults. The origins of this remain clouded but there are several theories. It is understood early English shoemakers started with the smallest size (0 or 1) at four inches. Four inches was an easy measure to record because it was the width across the knuckles which happened to correspond to the size of a child’s foot need their first pair of shoes. By coincidence 4.22 " measured 13 barleycorns. The next easy measure was the span of the hand or 9". Measure across the knuckles (4") plus the span of the hand (9") gave 13". This measured the average length of a child's foot at puberty. Adult sizes would logically start at the end of the child's size. Another belief is based on a foot measuring practice at the time. Some historians believe shoemakers accepted 13 as the base unit for measuring feet. The shoemaker's size stick was twelve inches long with the units measured from zero. This meant twelve became thirteen. There have been several attempts to standardise measurements of shoes and adopt the quarter inch unit, however arguments have always failed due to costs and problems of changing to a new system. As early as the seventeenth century, according to Holme, a "guild of shoemakers" had agreed on a common size scale based on a quarter inch rather than the third of inch. However little had changed by the nineteenth century when Gardener described in 1856 a shoe sizing system based on one-third inch, scale. The barleycorn, for all its metrological shortcomings, continues to be used in both American and English sizing systems.

Boots: Cool canvas for sale

Nice painting for sale Information passed on in good faith.

Salvatore Ferragamo Museum on-line

The Salvatore Ferragamo museum is in the beautiful city of Florence, Italy. Dedicated to the works of the "shoemaker to the stars" and founder of Ferragamo, the museum houses shoe exhibits, pictures and vintage films dedicated to the firm which was founded in the 1920. Salvatore Ferragamo started as a humble shoemaker who ended up designing and making shoes for Hollywood luminaries such as Marilyn Monroe, Greta Garbo and Audrey Hepburn. Visitors can now browse through Ferragamo archives as well as book tickets to the actual museum. There is also an opportunity to download famous shoe models, redesign them and send them back to be judged. Winners will have their designs exhibited on a virtual gallery.

Reebok Women's Easy Tone: What every woman needs?

According to the manufacturers the Reebok Easy Tone was designed to fit and function female feet and features all the latest technologies for comfort and muscle-toning benefits. Reebok claim EasyTone technology encourages 28% more toning in the gluteal area, 11% more toning in your hamstrings and 11% more toning in your calves, than any other shoe. The design of this shoe follows others however in the belief minor variation to the walking surface can cause increased muscle tone. Inserts referred to as ‘balance pods’ are placed strategically under the heel and forefoot of the shoes to create what the manufacturer calls ‘natural instability with every step‘, (sic not quite sure what that is?) with the result the body needs to counter balance this action in turn tones major muscle groups. A similar approach in foot orthotic manufacture enjoyed a short vogue in the 50a and early 60s. Known as contra-lateral wedging the heel and forefoot plains were locked parallel with wedges placed on the medial side of the heel and lateral aspect of the forefoot. Whilst some relief of overuse symptoms was recorded the general response was contra-lateral wedging was uncomfortable to wear and subsequently abandoned.

Australian Bootox

Australian fashionista are turning to botox and filler injections for their feet to cope with the fashion for 10cm stilettos. Recent reports revealed many women were paying up the $1500 for elective, cosmetic procedures. Some were having hyaluronic acid (also known as hyaluronan) injected into the balls of their feet to numb foot pain and others with botox injections to cope with pain from prolonged wearing of high heeled shoes. Hyaluronic Acid is a polysaccharide composed of alternating molecules of N-acetyl glucosamine and D-glucuronic acid and is found naturally within collagen throughout the body. It is an important space filling substance and holds water to keep collegan fibres hydrated. Hyaluronic acid has for some time been used topically in creams to rejuvenate skin (epidermis) and is found in many preparatory skin products. Tests have shown intra-articular injections of hyaluronan into the knee can decrease pain and improve mobility in people suffering from knee osteoarthritis. Although well tolerated generally there have been some minor localised side effects reported including bruising, redness, swelling, pain, tenderness and itching. These usually resolve after a few days and to date no long-term side effects have been reported. As a precaution hyaluronic acid gel is not recommended in people with severe allergies. No one is yet sure how hyaluronic acid viscosupplementation works but the resultant increase of viscoelasticity of the synovial fluid appears to play a role. Hyaluronic acid remains in the tissues for a short time (hours to days) but the long term effects last approx. 6 months. Botox injection is now the most common cosmetic operation despite the Botulinum toxin considered to be a lethal naturally occurring substance. When injected in the foot it acts as an analgesic to reduce focal painful neuropathies. All cosmetic treatments are of limited duration, and can be as short a period as six weeks, but can last between 3 and 8 months. At the extremely low doses botulinum toxin has a very low degree of toxicity. Sales of silicone inserts for shoes have also increased as the high heel fashion prevails.

Global imagining: Shoes and social fabrics in motion.

Q. What shoes can you not walk backwards in?

A. Thongs (aka flip flops)

Very much looking forward to reading a new book by Caroline Knowles called Global imagining: Shoes and social fabrics in motion. Caroline Knowles is Reader in Sociology at Goldsmiths College, University of London and has taken an objective biography tracing the flip flop trail from production to consumption. According to the author China dominates the world production of to 'go aheads' (thongs) and regularly moves centres of manufacture according to economics. Thongs are the highest selling footwear and the author writes of her visit to the Chinese plastics factories and the plastic villages which quickly succumb to the sandal making industry. Knowles explores thong making in Ethiopia to uncover the social texture and global social inequalities which exist. She also takes a look at flip flop smuggling undertaken by contrabandists shifting illegal shoes across the border.

Bling Ring brought to book

Four people have been charged in connection with at least 10 burglaries in the Hollywood Hills. Among the star’s homes to be broken in to include Brian Austin Green, Ashley Tisdale and Megan Fox. Dubbed of the ‘bling ring’ the gang of blaggers targeted Hollywood’s elite. So far, other celebrities Paris Hilton, Audrina Patridge, Lindsay Lohan, Rachel Bilson and Orlando Bloom have allegedly had property stolen by the gang. Police believe ‘the bling ring’ are primarily made up of teenage girls from a local school. Police allege the crew took jewelry, designer clothes and accessories, some were later seen wearing pilfered couture, including Fox's T-shirts and Hilton's shoes. Following the arrests at least $2 million in merchandise was recovered by police.

Simple Shoes: Nice kicks

Simple Shoes are biodegradable footwear with sneakers and flip flops made of sustainable materials. The line uses hemp uppers, recycled car tire bottoms and recycled plastic bottles for laces. The shoes utilize only water based glues. The shoes breakdown in landfills over 20 years as microbes eat away at the compounds reducing the shoes to dirt.

Cankle challenged, Barbie

Christian Labouring was commissioned to design three new Barbies to celebrate the doll’s 50th anniversary. When the French shoe designer raised concerns about the birthday girl’s “cankles,” he sparked an international controversy. Louboutin decided to slim down the plastic icon and give her thinner legs much to the chagrin of her fans. In addition to designing the dolls he has produced a hot-pink, human-sized Barbie shoe.

Nike shoe: Gruesome find on beach

Another severed foot has found washed ashore in Richmond, British Columbia last week. This brings the number of anonymous feet surfacing in B.C. and Washington to eight since August 2007. In the past most were wearing adidas shoes but the latest was inside a Nike running shoe (right and size 8 ½). So far no satisfactory explanation has been found to explain the gruesome finds but many believe there must be some sinister reason. According to oceanographer, Curt Ebbesmeyer from the University of Washington however the presence of the feet has a more innocent explanation. Inevitably submerged bodies floating in the water for longer periods will have segments including the feet disarticulate and these are caught in the flotsam and jetsam. Ebbesmeyer was baffled when four right feet were washed up but is more assured now lefts and matches are being washed up too which leads him to believe there is less likely to be widespread foul play. Thousands of people are reported missing in B.C. and Washington each year and some may come to a watery grave either through accident or self harm. The expert in flotsam and jetsam is surprised there are not more incidents reported.