This July 20th marks the 45th anniversary of man’s first walk on the moon. General Electric is celebrating by collaborating with sneaker maker Android Homme on these Missionsastronaut-styled boots, which go on sale Sunday at 4:18pm (time the Apollo 11 arrived on the moon) via JackThreads.com .
G.E. was involved with development of the original space boots in 1969. The new reboots are partially made of the same carbon fiber used for jet engine parts, and are coated with the type of stuff that keeps wind turbine blades ice-free.
Back on planet Earth, more than a third of men and half of women are walking around with shoes that don’t fit right. This has been gleaned from a study done by The College of Podiatry (U.K.). Their data shows that average shoe sizes have risen by two measurements since 1970. Shoe makers and retailers are noticing more bigger sizes, and consumers are not necessarily making better buying decisions in this still new millenium. Flats aren’t great alternatives to high-heels, narrow toe boxes are causing discomfort, and folks have been slacking on having their feet properly measured by a device such as a Brannock.Check out this awesome graphic. <-click.
What’s your take on this under-the-desk foot hammock?
Connect Design Fuut compact hammock
It’s a real thing created by Korea’s Connect Design. It comes in six different colors and costs 30 bucks. I bet a cat would have a blast on this too.
Wolverine Worldwideis discontinuing Patagonia shoes. Patagonia clothing is still cranking, but this will be the last year you’ll see their branded shoes as such on the shelves. LaCrosse Footwearhaspurchased the venerable White’s Boots brand. Serious boot-wearers know White’s as the bomb-proof work boots that are made in the USA. White’s president seems confident that that legacy will continue under the new owner. Canadian hiking & climbing gear company Arc’teryx is coming out with a line of new-school high performance footwear that feature ultra-modern two part designs incorporating an inner bootie, and tongueless outer shells.
Hong Kong based documentary photographer Jo Farrell launched and landed a successful Kickstarter campaign to create a book showing some of the last remaining women in China with bound feet.
image: Jo Farrell
In the early 1900s, having bound feet was a mark of beauty and status for some women in China. Developing pre-teen girls would have their toes pressed and squeezed into the bottom of the foot until they broke. Their arches were also broken, then the feet were wrapped tightly with bandages, and cultivated by soaking and rewrapping tighter and tighter as they developed into women who would be considered good, subservient wives.
Footbinding was phased out around 75 years ago, but are westernized women doing a milder version of it by wearing impractical decorative footwear that may lead to deformed toes and sore knees over time? What about the mainstreaming of so-called Cinderella procedures, where elective surgeries are done so women can better slide into “sexy” shoes?
A modern American women having a toe-shortening procedure at Evo Advanced Foot Surgery in Beverly Hills, CA. She can now wear “designer” shoes with less discomfort.Podiatrist Dr. Oliver Zang of NYC Footcare, the self-proclaimed originator of the foot facelift and toe-tuck, explains his concept of “designer feet for designer shoes”
Last Friday, while you were thinking about dinner and I was working sound at a theater in Manhattan (wear-testing a pair of Injinji toe socks*), the United States Department of Defense made a move toward ensuring that service members are outfitted head to toe with gear made in the USA. The Berry Amendment was introduced 73 years ago to promote the purchase of certain U.S. goods. Over the years, exceptions were made when it came to military training sneakers. Boots were an issue item, but most service members wore their choice of trainers. These New Balances pictured are made in Maine using soles, uppers, textile parts, and straps sourced from Massachusetts- plus laces made in Rhode Island- making it a Berry Amendment compliant product. This NB 950v2 athletic shoe is being tested by the military and may soon become available to recruits via their vouchers. U.S. Congressional reps Niki Tsongas (D-Mass), and Mike Michaud (D- Maine) were instrumental in pressuring the D.O.D. to get it right with Berry. Michaud is a bigger New Balance head than you, and even sports made-in-USA blue and yellow New Balances while campaigning for Governor. Wolverine Worldwide, who already provides Berry-compliant boots through their Bates brand, and New Balance are currently the only American companies capable of producing competitive sneakers in the US. Now that Pentagon officials have made this announcement, other brands may consider rekindling their domestic production in order to compete for these military voucher bucks.
I never heard of the evil stepsister procedure until reading Laren Stover’s piece in the New York Times. “Make them fit, Please!” is something women have been saying to foot doctors in regards to outrageously impractical high-heeled footwear. Electivecosmetic foot surgery is a thing, and there are procedures ready to treat high heel foot, hitchhikers toe, toebesity and other man-made ailments that are keeping sufferers from comfortably wearing Jimmy Choo, Manolo Blahnik, and Christian Louboutin products. Get a load of the comments after the article as well.
Voting is now open for the 5th annual Vans Custom Culture Art Competition. Vans, who dropped some Star Wars gear this week, sends blank white shoes to 2000 high schools across the country so art classes can battle for design supremacy (and resources for their art programs).
Did you know VIbram has a line of FiveFingers for golfers?
V-Classic LR: Not your dad’s golf shoes
* I went my first day wearing some Injinji toe-socks under some New Balance walking shoes. I was moving around all day with them and like that they allow some splay.
Though shiny thong sandals were on Alison Ernst’s feet, it was an orange and black athletic shoe that she chose to pull from her purse and throw at Hillary Rodham Clinton last Thursday during some industry convention speech in Las Vegas. If the flying shoe was an Asics, Adidas, New Balance, NIke or Puma, it could have been made at a Yue Yuen Industrial factory in China, Vietnam or Indonesia. Those wondering how a seemingly infinite stream of new styles from the world’s biggest brands appear on shelves with such rapidity- consider Yue Yuena manufacturing power pitcher- employing over 400,000 workers to meet brands’ needs, and faraway demands of sneaker super-consumers camped in long lines outside stores on new-release eves.
Law enforcement meets workers. On the other side of the world they meet buyers.
Monday, at a Yue Yuen production facility in China’s Guangdong province, a number of thousand workers organized a strike. Issues pertaining to pay, social security, and other workplace concerns landed on the negotiating table. Read what U.S. based not-for-profit organization China Labor Watch announced about the situation. One wonders what a Yue Yuen worker might think if they’d seen coverage of a Supreme Nike Air Foamposite release in New York City a couple weeks ago that was shut down due to safety concerns (crazy line). Whether supplying in Guangdong or demanding on Lafayette Street, I’m confident things will proceed in a peaceful, fair direction. There’s never been a better time to be cognizant of the true purpose of footwear- the truth of what you’re buying and making. What does it mean to you? Does your relationship to a certain brand come from deep within? More likely, it’s a certain style you like. Let your sensibilities guide you.
Less more much? LIke what you like. Explore best versions of styles you gravitate toward.
A liar is someone who claims they never searched for the perfect shoe. Why pay attention to the craft of your footwear the way you pay attention to your health? They are you. That nicely boxed product could be an investment, not disposable socks with tread stuck on them to be Ebayed or Craigslisted- rather like property or hairstyles that flux with you. Popdiatry imagines footwear as an almost extra skin. Like horse’s hooves, they become your exo-layer on this giant treadstone Earth, providing shelter for two vessels requiring air, water and sun. Think of our ancestors walking long before the days of branding. What would they think of Old Navy two dollar flip-flop sales ? Would they think we’re brilliant eagles for selling a pair of foam-molded vessels on an electronic-bidding site?
It may help dodging flying shoes if you avoided wearing high-heels like the ones pictured in the coming-soon image for “Killer Heels: The Art of the High-Heeled Shoe “- an exhibit exploring chopines, stilettos and life showing this September at Brooklyn Museum (curated by Lisa Small). Killer like killer app, not killer like the Texas woman who was convicted last week of killing her boyfriend using a high-heeled shoe for a tomahawk. Apparently, certain types of high-heels contain a mysterious power that raises wearers’ superego- if not center of gravity- while increasing the risks of injuring the ankle and/or developing knee osteoarthritis. The taste for danger explains a little. From what I hear these babies are often uncomfortable, and unsupportive to the point you’ll see gals barefooting through public parks carrying rather than sporting. Even Dr. Scholl’s compares them to evil monsters in their new Dreamwalk insoles for women advertisements.
Dear Dr. Scholl, I would like a prescription for one Dreamwalk promotional USB stick to give to my aunt for Christmas.
Image from http://instagram.com/evcurlgurl
What do I like? What you like. There is no right shoe.
In a continuing effort to foster understanding about why humans wear mega-heels for prolonged periods, I look forward to watching some of the short films that will be presented along side the objects at the Brooklyn exhibit. Hopefully no one will be buzzed by a flying platform shoe, or threatened by that Louboutin Printz; wearing some protective gear couldn’t hurt- maybe some boots with wings would emit mercurial yin for the high-heeled yang, and enable flights to neverland- a world where everyone has a few really great pairs of shoes and the people who made them are happy.
Spotted at Brandhunters “Night of Fashion” – Curtis and his tricked out boots
Hopefully you are happy with your footwear. Why suffer for or of it?
G.E. was involved with development of the original space boots in 1969. The new reboots are partially made of the same carbon fiber used for jet engine parts, and are coated with the type of stuff that keeps wind turbine blades ice-free.
