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Oder-Eaters National Rotten Sneaker Contest Turns 40
The annual contest celebrates 40th anniversary at Ripley’s Believe It or Not! in Times Square.
The annual contest celebrates 40th anniversary at Ripley’s Believe It or Not! in Times Square.
Joining forces with Tokyobike for inspiration, sneakers and cycles share a clean design aesthetic.
Jenni Peters, owner of Varsity Sports, tells us what’s hot in South Louisiana.
When Rich Cofinco and Robert Nand started Creative Recreation in 2002, fresh from their design roles at Vans, their goal was to fuse an athletic sneaker with a dress shoe–a style that was nonexistent at the time. In the decade since, however, every men’s brand worth its shoe leather has followed their lead.
Converse presents a melange of takes on its tried-and-true Jack Purcell sneakers for the Fall ’14 season. The all-new Cross Stitch is a fresh twist on the classic kick, re-imagined in tumbled leather with blue stitching on the tongue, a gum Jack Purcell “smile,” square waxed cotton laces and accent brass eyelets.
Think lightweight running shoes are just a fad? Think again. Thirty percent of total performance running footwear sales in October 2013, which was up 22 percent when compared to the year ago period, came from lightweight running. “Innovation continues to set the pace,” says Marshal Cohen, chief industry analyst. “Consumers are looking for athletic shoes that will perform better than earlier models with a lighter, more comfortable weight. We have also noticed an attraction to brighter, bold colors.
Converse is no stranger to musician collaborations, having joined forces with everyone from Nirvana to ACDC to Metallica over the years. Now the iconic brand has teamed up with Black Sabbath to bow a collection of five designs based on its classic Chuck Taylor All-Stars.
Love ’em or hate ’em, you can’t deny the versatility of a good pair of sneakers. Make no mistake: We’re not talking about your dad’s old white New Balance runners. We mean sick kicks that can be dressed up for work and down for an easy night out. And we’re not the only fans. Global information company NPD Group reports that athletic footwear sales increased 1 percent from January to August 2013, compared to the year-ago period.
Starting with the original Converse Chuck Taylor All Star from 1917 and culminating with Nike’s 2013 camo-print Kobe 8 System, A Visual Compendium of Sneakers hits sneaker high notes of the past century. “We cobbled together an assortment that not only illustrates the evolution of shoe design and technological advancements, but that also represents some of the most sought after styles in sneaker history,” says Rachel Mansfield, director of marketing for Pop Chart Lab, a Brooklyn-based company that turns cultural data into graphic prints.
Fashion blogger The Man Repeller (aka Leandra Medine) has partnered with Superga on a collection of cool kicks for fall. True to the blogger’s quirky flair, each pair comes with a set of longer laces to tie around the ankle a la Medine herself. From a velvet hi-top ($145) to a metallic boucle lo-top ($140), this isn’t your run-of-the-mill sneaker collaboration.
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