Footwear Plus

One way or another, music and fashion always collide. This spring
Converse offers a collection of Chucks designed by Blondie frontwoman
Debbie Harry. Three styles of the quintessential punk kick are
available, including a high-top with pink laces and Harry's image and
a low-top with the band's name scrawled on the side. In a SPIN.com
interview, Harry calls the shoes "a staple in rock 'n roll and fashion".

The Blondie line is part of Converse's new Punk Collection. Other
styles are inspired by The Clash and Kurt Cobain or feature skull and
plaid prints.

This weekend three top European football leagues will debut a special
edition (PRODUCT)RED Nike ball to raise awareness of the athletic
brand's 'Lace Up. Save Live' initiative. The ball will be used at all
of England's Barclays Premier League, Spain's La Liga BBVA and
Italy's Serie A TIM games on March 13th and 14th. The specially
designed T90 Ascente, revamped with a splash of red and the (RED)
logo, is the official ball currently used by all three leagues.

'Lace Up.

Guided by its ‘Good for You. Good for the Planet’ tagline, Earth
Footwear has entered into a values-based partnership with EarthShare,
a federation of the nation’s most respected environmental and
conservation nonprofit organizations.

Leading into “Earth Month” in April and the 40th anniversary of Earth
Day (Apr. 22) , the Waltham, MA-based Earth Footwear will make an
initial $5,000 contribution to EarthShare.


On the heels of snowboarder Shaun White’s gold medal performance at
the Vancouver Olympics, Target is launching an exclusive namesake
collection of footwear for Fall ’10.



Bearpaw Footwear, a Citrus Heights, CA-based comfort brand, partnered
with Soles4Souls to donate 2,000 pairs of shoes to the earthquake
victims of Haiti in support of Project Haiti.
The “Try Comfort, Give Comfort” event was hosted by the company
during the recent MAGIC/ FN Platform show in Las Vegas. Bearpaw
donated a free pair of shoes to Project Haiti for every pair of shoes
that attendees tried on during the show.
“I am excited to be part of such a great program and work with the
people from Souls4Souls,” says Tom Romeo, CEO of Bearpaw.

Green Day bassist Mike Dirnt announced that royalty proceeds from his
Macbeth Studio Project shoes-totaling $10,000-will be donated towards
Soles4Souls’ Haitian relief efforts.


Brooks Sports announced that its “Brooks For Her” campaign
collected nearly $27,000 in 2009. The funds will aid three charities
that focus on breast cancer research, awareness and support.

The campaign was introduced in conjunction with the brand’s debut
range of women’s apparel called Brooks for Her. The predominately
pink collection included running gear adorned with the iconic pink
ribbon. For each piece purchased from March through December 2009,
Brooks earmarked 6.25 percent of the suggested retail price for
donation.

Hush Puppies’ iconic suede casual shoe gets the royal treatment. The
responsible for the first suede casual shoe is linking up with Lansky
Brothers, the men's store famous for outfitting Elvis Presley, for a
collection of shoes inspired by the King. Blue suede lace-up and
black and white slip-on styles are available exclusively at the
Memphis retailer for a limited time.

In the early 1950's Presley was a 'regular' at Lansky Brothers and
scooped up his signature peg-legged pants and Hi-boy collars from the
Beale Street store.

Footwear Plus Magazine has spent the last 20 years building our reputation as thought leaders in footwear fashion. We believe that it is no longer enough to simply mind the gate between the manufacturers and retailers of fashion footwear, but view our role as the facilitators of the conversation that is taking place around us.

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