Vending machine distributes shoes

By Patrick Stafford

Source

Two new start-ups in Britain have created a new service that provides flat-soled shoes for women distributed through vending machines.

Both companies have set up their machines near nightclubs, targeting young women who are looking to change out of high-heeled shoes into more comfortable footwear for a trip home.

One of the new products, "Rollasoles", sell for $10, look similar to ballet shoes, come in four colours and are even purchased with a matching carry-bag. Two of the vending machines were trialled at different nightclub locations, and quickly sold out.

Another company has produced "Afterheels" which sell for the same price, but the manufacturer claims the shoes will last longer, being made from natural and recyclable materials.

The mysteries of Chinese shoe etiquette, ancient and modern

By: Peter Foster
Source

Moving to a new country always requires a certain amount of adjusting to local mores and customs and, for the first few months at least, there is always that nagging fear for the new arrival that he's going to inadvertently put his foot in it. And last weekend, alas, I did. Both of them.

I should tell you that it's suddenly summer in Beijing, the fruit blossoms have wilted or been blown away by the spring winds and the pleasant warmth of that all-too fleeting season has been replaced by the first sultry breaths of summer.

Anyway, this change in the weather explains why I was to be found lounging with my children on the lawns in my apartment complex, playing football and Frisbee on Saturday morning, shod only in a pair of rusty-buckled Birkenstock sandals (cork soles, no smells!). My toddler, pottering loyally after her elder brother, was shod in nothing at all.

I should perhaps have guessed at what happened next, since several times this week I've had complete strangers ticking me off as I pushed the youngest around town in her stroller, kicking her bare feet at the passing world like a can-can girl. A lady in the bank was particularly upset, grabbing the toddler's feet to howls of protest.

My Chinese still being rather basic, I had assumed these comments were aimed either at my poor parenting skills or were a manifestation of the Chinese habit of wrapping children up until they are on the point of expiring from heatstroke, although perhaps the 30C temperatures should have alerted me to the fact that there was something more serious afoot.

Anyway, by the time I padded across the garden to visit the coffee shop located in our apartment complex, I too was in bare feet, having kicked off my sandals in pursuit of the toddler, the football and her ever-energetic brother.

I didn't even get within 50 metres of the door to the shop when I was accosted by a man - a perfect stranger who was trimming a nearby hedge - pointing at my feet. Even my Chinese was up to translating his wagging finger. "NO SHOES!"

Soon a second man (unidentified male, passer-by) had joined in, alerted by the spectacle of the barefoot foreigner. He was even more hysterical than the first guy. "NO SHOES!! NO SHOES!!" he said, tapping his own furiously. It was as if I'd forgotten to put my trousers on, not my shoes.

Can someone help me here? What is about wearing no shoes in public that is such a no-no? Is it a hygiene issue? Or perhaps a purely social one? I don't know, but it's not a mistake I shall be repeating.

Perhaps it's a year in New Zealand that has corrupted my sense of what's normal. No-one wore shoes in Golden Bay if they could possibly help it, and I seem to remember walking round the park in India barefoot most of the time.

I've had it suggested that this no-shoe-taboo is connected with a belief that you get sick if you don't wear shoes, which I can see in winter, but not in the blazing heat of summer.

I've found a long article on shoe etiquette in the Zhou Dynasty (1100-256 B.C.) where bare feet were taboo for ceremonial purposes. And another telling of the Western Jin (265-317) ruler who, in his distaste for merchants, decreed that their footwear should comprise one black and one white shoe to make them all look the same.

And yet a third on the stipulations of the The Qing Dynasty that bright yellow footwear was reserved solely for the emperor, golden yellow shoes were for nobles, and those of an apricot-yellow shade were for the common people.

But I'm not sure any of that is really very helpful. All and any cross-cultural enlightenment will be gratefully received.

High heels which double as flippers Photo: National PIctures

Known as High Tide Heels, they combine the elegance of stiletto heels with the swimming speed of flippers.

They could provide a fashionable alternative for sun-seekers who don't want the hassle of changing footwear every time they cool off with dip in the sea.

But don't expect to see thousands of tourists ditching their flip flops and sandals in favour of High Tide Heels this year.

The shoes were created by the Belgian artist Paul Schietekat for an exhibition in 2006, and there are not thought to be any plans to release them commercially.

Even so, similar designs are causing excitement among style-conscious travellers on shoe websites.

One commenter wrote: "Great for crazy fashionistas who don't want to be seen without heels even at the beach.

"I think Posh Spice should adopt this style, she almost always wears heels."

But others thought they would be too uncomfortable for practial use, with one commenter writing: "I am sorry but these of got to be the weirdest style of shoes I have ever seen.

"I cannot begin to imagine how in the world you would walk in them without tripping over you feet."

Source

Papal shoes in mosque cause controversy

As controversy surrounds the Pope's shoes in a mosque in Amman, a Vatican spokesman insists that it would be "absolutely wrong to make a problem" out of the issue.


The controversy was sparked when Pope Benedict XVI kept on his shoes during a keynote address to Muslim leaders in a Jordan mosque.


However, Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi said the Pope meant no disrespect to Islam when he entered the Al-Hussein mosque.


"Benedict XVI was ready to take them off but his escorts led him down a special walkway and did not ask him to do so," the spokesman said.


The controversy aroused at a time when the pontiff is seeking to mend fences with the Muslim world during his Middle East tour.


Source

Offender's high heels keep court on toes

By Steven Morris
Guardian.uk

Woman claiming medical condition barred from community work

Most turn up in trainers or tough old boots, but Debbie Stallard arrived to do her community service in shiny black leather boots with impressive four-inch heels.

Officials patiently explained that the fashionable footwear was simply not appropriate for the sort of manual work she was expected to take part in, only to be told by Stallard that she had to wear high heels because of a medical condition.

No compromise could be found and Stallard found herself back in court explaining why she could not wear flat footwear because of the shape of her feet.

Stallard, a newsagent from Paignton, Devon, was convicted on 16 February of two counts of damaging a vehicle and one of failing to provide a breath specimen. To pay off her debt to society, she was due to do 80 hours of unpaid work such as cleaning graffiti and mending fences.

A probation officer, Heidi Randle, told Torquay magistrates: "She attended on the date required but was sent away because she was wearing four-inch heels. The shoes were not in line with health and safety requirements. She stated she wore them because of a medical problem and could wear open-toed shoes.

"Shoes have to be flat and not open. We tried to contact the GP in this case and received a letter which was non-committal and does not say anything specific about wearing flats."

Stallard claims she has had the condition since infancy and walks on the balls of her feet rather than the heel. Her solicitor, John Darby, told the court: "My client has always lived on her toes. She has always worn heels and in her last job had to sign a disclaimer so she could wear high heels to work. She can't walk in flats."

On Friday, magistrates ordered a full medical report and adjourned the case. Outside court, Stallard, 47, said: "It's health and safety gone mad. I was made to feel stupid, like I had gone there wearing them deliberately ‑ but that is not the case. I'm just not able to wear flat shoes. The boots I wore are what I would consider sensible. They weren't open-toed stilettos or anything like that.

"I've always walked on the balls of my feet. My heels don't naturally hit the ground. It was a nightmare a couple of years ago when flat shoes were the fashion. It's impossible to go to the gym because I'm told I can only go if I have trainers. I can't even wear them. The only ones I would be able to wear are the platform ones, like the Spice Girls used to have.

"Even my slippers have a two-and-a-half inch heel. Apparently there are ways to correct the problem but I don't want to go through that now."

A Probation Service spokesman said: "We take the health and safety legislation for offenders very seriously. Ms Stallard was offered protective footwear but refused to comply. We had no option but to return the order to court for magistrates to resentence as they see fit."

City removing footwear from telephone, cable wires

By: Iris St. Meran
Source

The City of Utica is collecting sneakers and other footwear from an unusual place. They're taking them off of telephone and cable wires.

Last year, the city removed more than 50 pairs of shoes and will be doing the same this time around. In some places, shoes hanging from telephone or cable wires signifies gang or drug activity in the area. Utica's Public Safety Commissioner says that's not the case here.

"Here in the city, it's just a copycat type of act where children just throw them up there for whatever reason. That's no indication that there's any drug activity or gang activity in that area," said Public Safety Commissioner Daniel LaBella.

Anyone caught hanging shoes from telephone wires can be charged with criminal mischief and fined up to $300. To report footwear hanging from wires in the city, you can call the public safety office at (315) 792-0176

Flowers Bloom in Designer's Spring Shoes

Spring fashion 2009 has been touted as the "season of flowers" by style-watchers world wide and they aren't kidding. Flower motifs are in full bloom in clothes, hair styles, even in shoes. From sandals to pumps, it seems that footwear is the latest way to pay homage to Mother Nature.

After seeing some amazing floral interpretations of shoes and boots at the Philadelphia Flower Show in March, I realized what a suitable combination flowers and footwear could be. Last season Prada came out with floral Art Nouveau inspired high heels. While seemingly impractical to the average shoe-buyer, they were heavily advertised making their image hard to forget. And who can resist the beauty of flowers from the Art Nouveau period?

Flowers dominated the cat-walk at the 2009 Paris Fashion Week, including some over-the-top attractions. Bruno Frisoni, creative director for Roger Vivier, debuted an outrageous pair of hand-made fabric flower covered wedges. Coined as the “One Is Too” spring couture line, his shoes live up to this play-on-words. His designs may seem more fancy than functional, but he is serious about his craft. The mark of Frisoni’s mentor, Roger Vivier, is evident in these shoes-as-art, and the addition of Mother Nature’s bounty only makes them more attractive.

Another designer label who got inspiration from the garden was Scherer-Gonzalez. Their spring 2009 shoe collection was focused solely on fresh flowers. Talk about ready-to-wear! The interesting thing about these designer shoes is they were rather unexpected in structure—somewhat akin to floral designs-atop-lucite-stripper-heels. Regardless of your first impression, they make a statement…and likely will inspire women to “pimp up” their feet.

Not all shoes this season are so heavily decorated like those in the Paris show. There are many pairs available in stores across America that keep the floral theme alive in a more discreet fashion. I suppose there is something for everyone, but I have to go with the couture designer’s philosophy—if you’re going to take from the garden, make sure it’s enough for an arrangement. Shoes and flowers--a good fit if you ask me.

Source: www.examiner.com

In India general election, a new security concern: shoe-throwing protesters

James Meikle and agencies

Candidates ask for more protection after third shoe-throwing incident in 10 days

Maoist rebels have attacked polling stations and destroyed voting machines, Islamist militants have called for an electoral boycott, but politicians on India's campaign trail are more concerned by another threat during India's month-long general election.

Candidates have requested metal nets and extra security to protect them from shoe-hurling protesters, after footwear has emerged as the weapon of choice for disgruntled voters.

Yesterday, Lal Krishna Advani, the Bharatiya Janata party's (BJP) prime ministerial candidate, became the latest target for bombardment. The missile – a wooden slipper of the type usually worn by Hindu priests and religious leaders – was thrown by an angry party worker at a meeting in the central state of Madhya Pradesh. It missed by some way but the incident was the third shoe-throwing incident in 10 days, according to internet newspaper Mail Today, and has prompted the authorities to step up protection further.

More than 250,000 police officers are being deployed to provide security for the polls which began yesterday, but now party workers have been asked to remove shoes at meetings and security staff have been advised to be extra-vigilant, including keeping tabs on journalists at press conferences.

Authorities in Gujarat built a special safety net to keep shoes out as Narenda Modi, chief minister of the BJP-ruled state, began his speech at a rally this week.

Yesterday's incident was just the latest in a string of shoe-throwing protests against political leaders, including then US president George Bush and Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao.

Last week, a Sikh journalist hurled a shoe at India's home minister in New Delhi, enraged by the minister's reply to a question about 1984 riots in which hundreds of Sikhs died.

Three days later, a retired school teacher threw a shoe at Congress politician Naveen Hindal during an election rally in Haryana state.

Politicians have so far not taken the shoe attacks personally and have not initiated legal action.

But Rajiv Pratap Rody, the BJP candidate in Bihar state, said: "These are acts of insanity. There is no scope for such acts in India's political system."

Voting will continue in four phases over the next month, and the final results will be announced on 16 May.

Source

Schwarzenegger choice of footwear draws scrutiny

By TRACIE CONE Associated Press Writer


Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger was in California's Central Valley on Monday to talk about health care and field questions about water and next month's special election.

Among the other issues drawing attention: his fancy footwear.

At the end of a brief news conference at Fresno City College, a local television reporter blurted out, "What's up with your shoes?"

Schwarzenegger, beginning to turn away from the small cluster of reporters, appeared taken aback by the question. He looked at his feet as the students and local officials attending the event fell silent.

"You like them?" he said as a few people laughed and applauded.

Then he added, "I love shoes."

The governor, who has worn cowboy boots on most of his public visits to the state's agricultural heartland, on Monday wore an eye-catching pair of blue-black shoes bearing an alligator skin pattern. They were stitched in white and tied with contrasting white laces.

The reporter for KMPH-TV who asked the question, Liz Gonzalez, later described them as looking like "alligator bowling shoes."

"I'm not saying they were bad," Gonzalez said afterward, explaining her choice of question. "It was more curiosity than anything."

The former movie star has luxury tastes that include custom-made shoes, Armani suits and expensive cigars. Schwarzenegger spokesman Aaron McLear downplayed the governor's fashion sense, describing the footwear merely as "black business

Can shoes be political?

By Brian U. Tenorio
Philippine Daily Inquirer

I WAS IN A CAB IN BERLIN once with the taxi driver trying to guess where I was from. After listening to him speculate if I was Japanese, Chinese or even Singaporean, I said I was from Manila. He then suddenly looked very interested and sighed, “Aaaah, the Abu Sayyaf!?” And in the same breath he asked, “So how is the beautiful Imelda Marcos? (smiles) ... And her shoes?”

We’ve seen recently how an Iraqi journalist threw his shoes at the former US President. Now we don’t have his statement if he had really meant to throw his pair, or if he didn’t have anything else to hurl at the world’s most powerful leader. The cultural context of this gesture can’t be ignored though. Putting the sole of your shoe before someone is a major insult in the Arab world. Also, in some Asian cultures, shoes refer to the lowest and least significant part of the human body. One then should never give shoes as gifts.

However, the opposite is true in the Philippines—just see the balikbayans (or overseas Filipino workers returning home) bringing home shoes for their loved ones. The image of a balikbayan box being opened in a living room in Manila would always include a white pair of sneakers (fondly called “rubber shoes” in our country).

Can shoes be political? I think so.

Yamamoto vs Prada

Inspired designer Yohji Yamamoto disagrees with my premise while adding valuable insight when he answered “Fashion Now’s” (2005, published by Taschen) inquiry if fashion can be political: “I don’t see it in fashion. But if fashion does have such ambition, I would describe it as ‘freedom.’”

Now you can take his quote and place it across contexts, but freedom can be from or of so many things. But when more relevant realities are discussed, “freedom” from economic hardship that is brought about by improving purchasing trends is a somewhat universally agreed-on objective.

In the same book, however, Miuccia Prada defends well-designed pieces, saying: “ … but anything you do is political. The way you treat women, you have respect for them or not—this is a political choice. I don’t think that if you are interested in politics, you have to have bad clothing.”

So what’s the price tag of “looking it?” Conversely, when was the last time “Made in Italy” mattered and “Made in China” made a difference? When was the last time you bought a Philippine-made pair? Is GMA still wearing Philippine-made shoes besides the Milani pairs she used to wear? (Milani, although Italian-sounding, is a Filipino retail label.) Which of the 2010 presidential aspirants wear Philippine-made footwear?

While the Chinese make the biggest number of shoes in the world and the Italians arguably the best lines, and the Japanese wear the most expensive styles, I think that Filipinos own another relevant superlative: we know our shoes, and among cultures, we love our shoes the most. That is our place in the global market and consciousness.

Sadly, though, I do not think we have used that to our advantage, as our footwear industry has been losing buyers, manufacturers and skilled shoemakers in the last few decades.

Dying shoe industry

According to the 2009 position paper of the Movement for Export Survival (MES) composed of industry associations (including the Philippine Footwear Federation Inc. or PFFI), of the $77-billion world demand for footwear, the Philippines produces for only 0.04 percent of that demand. Also, more than 20,000 Filipino employees work for that manufacturing sector. In the same report, it states that almost half of the members of the PFFI had closed their companies by 2007.

Regarding world demand for shoes, in her book, “Shoes: a Celebration of Pumps, Sandals, Slippers and More” (New York: Workman, 1996), Linda O’Keefe says: “The charismatic qualities of shoes have more to do with possession than use.”

While this may be true for women, I feel that men, on the other hand, are more about use than consumption when it comes to footwear. Look at the Barack Obama picture of Callie Shell for Time, where the American president exposes the thinned-out soles of his pair—those are the shoes of a working man.

So the message is: In times like this, there is no shame in having worn-out soles.

The follow-up question then: Is Obama’s pair made in the US? To Huffington Post blog reader Territc (an online nickname, we are sure), this may not matter as she thinks that “those shoes have a story to tell. They have walked the road from the announcement to the election.”

Shoe and memory

Shoes also help us remember. They tell a story and sometimes they represent their wearers. Shoes are synecdoches of sorts, and in the book “Footnotes on Shoes” (edited by Shari Benstock and Suzanne Ferriss, published by Rutgers University Press in 2001), a particular chapter title effectively captures the essence of this idea: “Empty Shoes.” Discussed in the chapter is the US Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C., which has an artistic installation of old shoes gathered from Holocaust victims.

Shoes symbolize one’s condition. “If I were in his/her shoes” is a line about empathy, thinking and acting like you were in another person’s situation. It is an attempt to do things according to one’s beliefs and unique way of existence.

So how would it feel to be in the shoes of “Sex in the City’s” Carrie Bradshaw? She is arguably one of the most famous pop culture references for footwear. A female friend once noted how Carrie would wear a new pair in every scene. That would have been totally believable and familiar to any New Yorker except that, as a shoe designer myself, I don’t think it would be so glamorous to break in a new pair of heels every week walking around New York City.

Shoes describe our condition, project our ideas and beliefs, help us remember, immortalize personalities, improve economies—all these while making us walk taller, lifting our behinds and filling our closets. I think that the main and more relevant realization should not be about fashion and looking good at all, but about this challenge: Shouldn’t we demand for beauty, equality, an improving economy, good governance and happiness in life?

Don’t we all want to have nicer shoes?