blog GAMIL: an insider look at design » shoes

It starts in the crib….Heelarious!

kelly — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 17:01:01 +0000

Why do women where heels? Nature or nurture? Now we can trace the answer back to the crib…. with Heelarious, her first heels. A soft high-heeled crib shoe, these heels are not intended for walking. They are intended to provoke laughter (at the expense of your child and you). A humane way to gently ease girls into a world of bunions and hammertoe.

But I do fancy the zebra print…

Fair and New Balance(d)

aly — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 22:54:54 +0000

Though ethnically ambiguous in my own gene pool, I really love “Stuff White People Like.” Just for highlighting the “whiteness” of New Balance shoes made from good ol’ USA workers.

and then peppering it with quotes like:

“white people who jog are generally viewed as being better than white people who don’t. Although perhaps it’s more accurately stated that white people who jog feel the need to constantly prove they are better than white people who don’t.”

See the whole post here.

Dispatch from WSA

aly — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 05:24:18 +0000

As Billy Joel sang Saturday night, “There’s no business like shoe business.” Overall I can’t say that the World Shoe Association seemed like a great show in Vegas. I think MAGIC, a week earlier, would have been a better trip. Luckily the materials show adjacent to it was eye opening. If anything, most of what was at the Shoe Show was old news.It was interesting to see many brands trying to craft a “sustainable story,” but in some cases this led to recycled packaging only. However there were a few great things there. Most notably a wide divergence in style.

1. Keen was trying to make a human connection with their footwear via a message called “hybrid life.” Hybrid seemed to mean lots of things when you got down to it, so it came off more as a hybrid message. But still some distinct footwear is emerging from that “brand with the big toe.”

2. Ariat, originating from Equestrian wear, had some nice detailing that crossed-over well to urban style.

3. Taos clogs were just too compelling to go unnoticed.

4. But Best in Show has got to go to a beautiful collection from Columbia called Sergio Tomani. I’ve never seen this brand before but these shoes were stunning in person and these pics don’t do them justice. You can get multi views here.

shoes of labor

aly — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 11:00:52 +0000

Most people don’t know that it takes more than an hour of labor to make most shoes and that they usually use lots of toxic adhesive. That’s what makes a “green and responsible shoe” a true challenge. Below is an attempt by Patagonia to present some of the benefits of globalization, while showing a fairly typical shoe-making operation in China these days. But as I stand back and take a look at all the work going on by people wearing gloves and masks, it makes me think: there must be a better way to make shoes…

At least there’s the ultra-responsible approach by Simple to make your own! Sure, there’s still the gigantic woes of the animal & tanning industries, but at least it can be assembled with fidgety hands while watching American Idol Gives Back.

Camilla Engman’s Converse Shoes

britt — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 15:00:47 +0000

Looking for a new pair of Converse Chuck Taylor low tops? Camilla Engman’s design, Lil’ RED Riding Hood, was chosen for one of the shoes in the Converse (RED) program. So cute… great cause! Camilla is an Illustrator/Artist in Sweden… check out her work or her blog!

Step into (a fashion illustration of) Manolo Blahniks

beth — Sun, 30 Dec 2007 23:03:28 +0000

The understanding of a drawing verses how it translates to a real 3 dimensional product is something every designer (whether it’s fashion, product, architecture, interior, etc) and every client wrestles with. I love love love fashion illustrations, but it’s often difficult for me to see a true relationship between that gorgeous illo and the actual product. These Manolo Blahnik illustrations are fashion in the extreme, meaning no human foot could accomplish what those drawings can do (sad that real human beings can never live up to the desires of the fashion world). Despite that, I think these illustrations are remarkably similar to the finished product.

Sneaker Street

beth — Fri, 12 Oct 2007 12:45:15 +0000

Today Aly and I struck out to Mong Kok to go to Fa Yuen St, otherwise known as “Sneaker Street,” to see what kind of inspiration we could get from the hottest sneaks in Hong Kong. Well, it took us a while to actually get to the sneakers, because we had to walk through the “Ladies Market” to get there, which has everything you never knew you wanted. After lightening our pockets and loading ourselves down with new merchandise, we finally arrived at our destination…an entire street with store after store of sneakers. We saw what I am assuming is the latest newest design from every athletic shoe brand you can name. Everybody’s got limited edition artist series, with some especially memorable ones from Vans and Puma. Some memorable style also came from casual wear with Birkenstock’s latest design. And we were magnetically drawn to the Hong Kong shoe brand Acupuncture, which uses an icon very similar to the anarchy A (kind of a funny icon to go with the name “Acupuncture”). Acupuncture is a cross between Japanese style and skate style. They’ve also got some lifestyle crossover styles with Japanese cherry blossom design for the girls and hip-casual wingtip-ish kicks for the guys.

Incidentally, after returning from Sneaker Street, I searched the web for more info and found a bunch of sneaker-specific blogs. Here are some of the ones I spent time on:
Sneaker Blogger
Hypebeast
Sneaker Freaker

Here are some pics. Pardon the quality. I was shooting thru store windows, and sometimes the shoes were wrapped in plastic as well…The first is a shot of some of the Acupuncture shoes.The last 2 are supposedly the latest Vans. I couldnt find any info on these styles, but I’m sure all the sneaker freaks will know the scoop.

2 man enter, 1 man leave

beth — Tue, 09 Oct 2007 00:31:49 +0000

As scary as it is, I have realized that if you want to experience Hong Kong, you have to embrace the mall concept, so we went to Harbour City to check it out. While there, I saw some designer Mad Max boots! They’re from the french brand Pataugas.

shopping in hong kong

aly — Sun, 07 Oct 2007 09:42:27 +0000

ya know I’ve begun to understand the new age of “catch & release” hunting. It may not be more humane, but it is certainly less messy and a little more sustainable. So I’ve begun my own “catch & release” shopping on this trip to Hong Kong. That’s certainly easier on luggage and more sustainable on the wallet.