The Daily 5 – All About the Good News
by JULIA
I love this! Canadian born Tal Dehtiar launched a footwear line last year, called Oliberte Shoes and has become the first international company to market casual shoes that are made in Africa! His goal is to provide quality made shoes at a reasonable price and while Africa is not the first place that comes to mind when attempting to do that, he is determined to show the world the potential the continent has for manufactu…
One in a Million
by Alan Lugo
Happy New Year everyone!!! I hope everyone is easing back into the work grind with fond memories of the holiday season! I can personally say that I am truly looking forward to 2011!! We haven’t heard from Alan Lugo who a designer for Hush Puppies for a little while, but I absolutely love this article! The design process is very fascinating to me and I have so much respect for designers since as an artist, I understa…
Notes From The Field – Clarity Borne Back Ceaselessly From My Past
by William Weiss
One thing comes to mind…It takes a big person to not only admit jealousy but speak about it and commend the person who caused this stir of emotion. We all have an idea of who we thought or think we want to be and there is often someone out there who defines that image we have in our head. What I have found is that rather than focus that jealousy (which is actually admiration) on trying to compete with that person or try…
Notes From The Field – The Relevance of Magazines, and What’s Your Paradigm?
by William Weiss
I have to say that I LOVE magazines! I do a few searches and check out some things online but with my busy schedule making decisions about which website and what information I want to read about is not an easy thing to do and I often get distracted by my email, facebook or whatever may pop up somewhere…It makes me sad that print media is struggling because to me there is nothing better than picking up a magazine and disc…
Notes from the Field – Capsule Trade Show
by William Weiss
Click for show website! I have never been to the Capsule show, so I really enjoyed reading this article!! Refreshing coming an old shoe doggie such as Will to because we all know he is somewhat hard to impress! haha…Okay, I had to give him a little bit of sh*t because if I didn’t he would think something was wrong. I love how PBR is making its way into the footwear industry…this is the second post in a row…
Notes From The Field: An Important, Crucial, Potentially Life-Changing Update
by William Weiss
I just got back from the most amazing fun trip to the Zappos.com warehouse in Kentucky and I will be sharing my fine adventure with you all tomorrow!! For now, I have to say that I can’t believe how many times Vibram Five Fingers have been a subject of Will’s writings. I think he is bit obsessed…Nice to know that we can trust Will to honestly convey the pros and cons of things he loves, which is the trait of…
Notes From the Field: To Have And To Make, To Give And To Take
by William Weiss
Somehow Will must have had an inside scoop on my life. While I am a little pissed at him for NOT making the time for little ole Shoebizness lately, I am very pleased with his topic of choice. I am a living breathing examply of someone who has sacrificed and worked my little tush off to “take” opportunites that allow me to do what I love. The reward of not feeling like I am working when I am working is very much wort…
Give it Time
by Alan Lugo
It’s been a little while since we have heard from our friend Alan, but worth the wait! What a great article with a great message for us all!! Sometimes we can forget that things don’t just magically appear out of nowhere and it is so important that we take the time to ask the question, “what was your inspiration?” or simply a “why”. If we remember to do this rather than simply react…
Notes From The Field – Imma Be…Wat?
by William Weiss
So funny! Okay so I was born right on the cusp of the generation that Will refers to in the below “rant” (Sheena will be proud!) and I cannot fully commit to the misspelling of words in texts although, from time to time I find myself conforming. Why?? Well, for me being 30 years old, I find myself right smack dab in the middle of the Will Weiss’s of the world who have distain for text talk and the younger ge…
Notes From The Field – The Intrinsic Value of A T-Shirt, and What Price Authenticity?
by William Weiss
What a great article and so true! I have to agree with William a hundred percent. I have never been a trend seeker….I actually despise the word “trendy” because to me someone saying I am “trendy”, means I must look like someone else because I am following the direction of what society says is cool at the moment. No thank you. I see shoe companies do this same thing and feed the trend to the…
Notes From The Field – A Better Mousetrap, or How Not To Make A Lightbulb
by William Weiss
I love this article! So good to hear other people have wacky ideas running through their heads on a regular basis…I love it and I love putting them to action! You never know when you will get your next best idea, so it’s best to keep thinking….for example who would have though that making dresses out of paper would become one of my businesses??? Definitely not me. Now…as for those crazy shoes W…
Notes From The Field: Five Fingers
by William Weiss
Okay….sometimes Will leaves me without the ability to comment on his articles and this is one of them…..well except that these shoes are (I’m sorry Will) hideous! haha But HEY….who am I to judge…I have horrible feet when it comes to running and if these were to correct that maybe I would wear them (doubtful! haha). Poor Will’s wife….I wonder if they will end up missing on…
Where is technology taking shoe design? A Commentary.
by Alan Lugo
Okay…I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday! I know I did, but I am happy to be back in action here on Shoebizness! This is going to be a crazy week as the FFANY show is just two days away! I also have 4 exhibits this week for the art project I have been working on here in Miami….Like I said, CRAZY! Speaking of art…Alan paints a great visual on the advances of shoe design and technology. I personally tend to…
Notes From The Field – China Memories
by William Weiss
Ha…check out the PBR thrown in the mix. Now I definitely have to go to China…at least if I want to become as smart as Will! I love these kinds of stories…I really really do! I have not traveled out of the country much (I WILL!!), but I think it is so amazing to visit places in order to understand other cultures as well as to learn to appreciate mine. The bottom line is that…EVERY culture has good and b…
Notes From The Field – A Revelation in the Kentucky Bluegrass…Catching the Long Tail
by William Weiss
Two weeks back to back! Will’s on a roll and with this article comes a point that I totally agree with. Sometimes we can get all wrapped up thinking about the glamor factor to our businesses and who and where we are seen, but at the end of the day, that’s not what pays the bills and not only that, but in the big city markets, people can be jaded and very hard to impress. I was actually just having this conversation w…
