The Importance of Shoes

Friday, during a long train ride, a saw a guy get on the train wearing a straw hat, check shirt and cuffed, dark-wash jeans. It may have been a simple look, but compared to the rest of the slubs on the train wearing cargo shorts, sneakers and t-shirts that looked like "free gifts with purchase", the outfit looked good. That is, until he moved to sit down. That's when I saw his shoes. Crocs.

Dos and Don'ts of Shoes by Fashion Me Fabulous on Polyvore.com

This is the importance of shoes. The outfit was clean, casual and smart, but the shoes ruined it. I've been thinking all weekend about how many different and better pairs of shoes could have kept that look together. Paul found the perfect ones yesterday when he wrote about these Sperry Top Siders (also mentioning the importance of shoes. Paul, you read my mind). Comfortable, summery, good for walking around the city--these shoes do everything Crocs do, only they look good doing it.

Pictured:
Cuffed Jeans, Levi, $98
Straw Hat, Village Hat Shop, $18.95
Terracotta Check Shirt, Land's End, $19.99
"Do" Boat Shoe, Sperry, $80

Shoes that your Grandpa Wore

Having a good pair of shoes to complete your outfit is crucial, and summer is the perfect season to showcase your stylish kicks. Since 1935, Sperry has made some of the best summer footwear: the classic Top Sider.

[image: sperrytopsider.com]

These 'Siders are great, whether you're cruising the lake in a Chris Craft, or getting horizontal in the backyard hammock. They can be dressed up or dressed down–-versatility is always a bonus (especially during prime wedding season).

Grab a pair, and be creative. Classic never goes out of style.

More taste than tofu

As we draw closer to the end of Feet Week (a week has ten days, right?) we trod through weirder and weirder country in the search for something soft underfoot.

Vegetarian Shoes requires no description at all, but since I have an article to write, a little redundancy can be forgiven. This British company, based in a single shop in Brighton, proudly offers quality footwear in a wide variety of styles for both men and women, with a professional guarantee that at no point did anything sold, from laces and velcro to tongue and sole, have a pulse.

From owner, creator and designer Robin Webb:

I had started to teach myself to make shoes four years earlier after leaving Art College. I was inspired to hear that in parts of Africa, car tyres were recycled into soles. This got me thinking and soon I was making shoes out of anything I could lay my hands on, but being veggie I didn't want to use leather.

Then I made an exciting discovery, -a synthetic Microfibre material used for yachting upholstery. It looked and felt like supple leather, but was 'breathable', unlike other plastics. After some experimenting, I realised that this was what I had been looking for, and Vegetarian Shoes was born.

I'll admit, there's really nothing too strange about anything they offer... even their vegan leather is pretty main stream these days in terms of alternatives to traditional fabrics... it just makes me wonder what past lives my Chuck Taylors had, as I can't find a "vegetarian friendly product" sticker anywhere on them.

You won't believe it's not leather.
Or you may, I don't know.

A definite must-see for anyone looking for handmade products of an excellent quality, especially for outdoor and nature wear.

Diamonds on the soles of her shoes

Today we jump over to the good folks at Style Crave for a look at ten of the most expensive mens' shoes from around the world. With absolutely nothing coming under the $500 mark (or "pocket change" as wearers of these may be heard remarking) we here at Bloke can guarantee lots of lookie, but no touchie under any circumstances.

Just three pairs of these and I could pay off my first degree.
Seriously.

My very sole

It just wouldn't be fair to ramble on for a week about what other folks fit on their feet without giving the beat from my seat.

To quell the summer heat (gotta get off this rhyming scheme), in splendid spite of sandals and Berks (which we'll get into later) I turned to the Benny.
First the Benny Breaker by Puma, a light weight canvas sneaker, that can be snagged at any reputable sports clothing store. Mine are actually the white invert of the above, with a splash of green wave on the side for colour.And second the even lighter weight Benny by Aldo, a classier looking leisure sneaker that comes in a variety of designs, varying from the above seen and owned harlequin pattern, to more.... abstract choices.

Feet Week

We're kicking off shoe week here at Bloke with a little help from our friends over at Sneaker Freaker Magazine and the remarkably designed New Balance A20.

New Balance takes a trip to the ol’ Wild West with their new Navajo-Indian inspired A20 boot. Perfect for the urban cowboy roaming Harajuku’s proddy prairies, this suede steed features embossed NB branding on the heel and tongue, leather heel tassels, chunky cross-stitching plus woven rainbow bands similar to the patterns found in traditional Navajo textiles.

Oh man... now I'm going to have Hollah Back Girl stuck in my head all day.
Dammit.

Anyway, enjoy poking around AF, they've got a simply fantastic array of new designs, and we'll be back with more tomorrow!