Pollyanna's new shoes (part 1/3)
I am really busy right now, but if I may be allowed a little clarification here, the new sneakers being discussed and introduced with Pollyanna are not our first shoe endeavors, in any sense of the word. We have been developing a variety of special concept hand made shoes in our Paris collections and Private client services for years.
They are however, the very first basic sneakers of this type in the world to ever be made using 100 percent recycled vintage leathers. Recycled leather enables me to avoid killing animals to make the shoes, reduces landfill waste problems, and eliminates methane emissions from cows which are 22 times more damaging to global warming than carbon emissions. All of the materials including the full calfskin linings, leather uppers and 100 percent natural rubber sole are biodegradable. The total transport distance in the creation and production cycle of the shoe is about 100km as all the work was done locally between San Zenone and Cavarzere. The labor used (myself and Giuseppe) is modestly but adequately paid and helps to support 2 legal tax-paying designer craftsmen and their families with kids in northern Italy.
In contrast, the typical sneaker or trainer that you buy today with or without a designer name on it is made out of plastics and synthetic poly fabrics and petrochemical materials which end up in landfills and take about 1000 years to degrade during which time they alter water drainage patterns, destroying precious topsoil and trapping still water which greatly increases mosquito larvae and the growing new worldwide epidemic of deadly new strains of malaria. The global mass manufacturing system that produces them involves an average of 16000 km (10,000 miles) of transport by boat, train, truck and air with a massive corresponding carbon emission footprint on each shoe. And the average wage paid to people in the biggest manufacturing country for brand-name sneakers (Vietnam) is 58 dollars a month. And no, it is not enough for them and their families to live on. In fact, when they try to go on strike, the soldiers are called in to shut them up. When you buy these kind of shoes, you are essentially financing and supporting all of these actions and their repercussions whether you like it or not.
I apologize to those who may think that they have seen the actual product in the previous photos and believe that they are "overblown." They are not overblown, and like everything I design, make and put my name on--you cannot say you have "seen the actual product" until you have really seen the actual product in person, touched it, tried it on, learned something about what it actually is, and been in it for enough time to experience the difference.
They are beautiful, believe me. And they are the most unique and advanced sneaker/trainer concept in the world today.
I am also "lol" at all the "experts" out there who claim to 'know' so much about my work and me, and whether something will go with "all the other GBS stuff" or not. Since 1993, I have presented over 60 Paris collections comprising well over 4,600 different men's and women's designs at the forefront of the world avant-garde circuit where one must constantly change to remain valid season after season--believe me it's the world's most competitive designer arena and not many have stayed in as long as me. I started in the same store in LA as Rick Owens, showed my first Paris collection in the same tents in Paris as Maurizio Altieri, showed my first collection in Milan with the same agent as Carol Christian Poell, and knocked it out on the streets of Japan with Undercover and Number Nine for over a decade. Unless you are one of my long-time staff members or really, really special and devoted clients, there is no way in h_ll you would have seen even 1-2 percent of the total body of design work we have done at the world level. The massive filtering process and hypocrisy by media and retailers, and the fact that since the late 90's we have shut down as much image releasing as possible of our work online on public sites due to industrial copying risks simply make it impossible for you to know the collections in any substantial or adequate manner. And it is just B.S. to try and say so.
The shoes totally go with what we do and are about. Some of you should know that our recycling history goes back 16 years. We also pioneered the designer street fashion movement at the Paris designer level. We were the first in Paris to send out guys in their trainers in a Paris fashion show in 1994, and throughout the mid to late 90's we set the pace for this entire genre, at one point being named the number one designer for young men in Japan (the no. 1 street fashion market in the world) by a major magazine there. Roberta Valentini told me herself in Paris before its opening that the now very famous Boys Loft store by Penelope in Brescia, Italy was created in 1996 based around our leading direction in the designer street fashion movement at that time. An entire magazine "Sport and Street" was created and its first issues were plastered with pics and coverage of our Paris shows. And suddenly, every designer collection was being shown with cool sneakers. We predated the Jil Sander Puma deal by no less than 4 seasons, then all the subsequent Puma and Adidas deals such as Neil Barrett, Alexander McQueen and Stella McCartney ad infinitum.
So for those of you who don't agree as to why I am doing some sneakers, I must cordially and kindly disagree with you. I have every right in the world to do sneakers for GBS stuff. It's in the blood. In more ways than one, we invented the entire look and concept of wearing sneakers with handmade clothes. And as matter of fact, it really is in the blood--my great great grandfather co-founded the U.S. Shoe Corporation in the early 1900's, among their key products in those days was a radical new concept called Keds that turned out to become an enormous success. If nothing else, might some of you armchair designer quarterbacks out there please allow me the humble liberty to pay some homage to my great grandfather Connie McFarland?
And you definitely don't know me...I wear sneakers all the time. And I prefer them to constructed leather-soled shoes. Sorry, I am an older guy, and I like to be comfortable and think that maybe I can still jump and run around a little bit and feed my fantasies. But I am still very picky about what I wear on my feet and hate looking like anyone else in all those dumb big corporation trainers. I need something special, comfortable, beautifully made, and exclusively mine...
Thus the idea for these shoes was simply that I wanted to create the best pair of basic simple sneakers that I could live with in own my life, and my own conscious. Again, I have worn sneakers all my life but lately have been getting more and more turned off by the reports about all the big brands and their questionable, to say the least, approaches to quality, ethical treatment of animals (including humans), and environmental and sustainability track-records. So, this is about sneakers that would be good enough for me in environmentally and ethically sustainable quality, workmanship, comfort and style--in the sense that they have to be just like a plain old pair of old fashioned Keds or Converses (yes Chinorlz that was exactly the design objective of these pieces), not fashion: not Rick's Trainers, Ludwig Reiter, Y3, Bikkembergs, or special edition Nike-Adidas-Puma etc...(note: I too am a collector..for example, I have a pair of the original Yohji Adidas that cost over 700 euros that were awesome (nothing like Y3), and a special pair of 2004 Loveless/Green hightops and 2005 Undercover mens sneakers all bought in Japan, and loved them and wore them all to death--but that is not what these pieces are about).
And together with my friend Giuseppe's incredible work and 30 years of know-how, we did it. Super green, super sustainable, and super ethical. One of the best sneakers in the world that I have ever seen for its timing, and most exclusive. Highly collectable too. Especially once you've got them on. They require a ton of work all by hand to execute and are made by the one person with whom I have been making handmade concept shoes for years who I have the utmost respect for, and can state is one of the most unique working masters in his field in the world. "Overblown" is a little insulting Jamesd...I beg you to make a pair even one tenth as beautiful as these with your two hands.
Visually the idea is a basic. We are not trying to reinvent the wheel with exterior styling. The technique, workmanship and materials are what needed to be featured. And the recycled element gives each shoe a one-of-a-kind combination of color material and detailing in the leathers and adds another industry-first in our extensive recycling design history. So, the concept was to provide 2 simple basic models that can act as a minimalist basic framework for these features. We developed other models that were presented in Paris which are far more aesthetically radical and different, but this is not what was felt right for Pollyanna's introduction project, and after the reaction of the people who really did see the actual product on Sunday and bought or ordered their own customized pairs on the spot, and are continuing to do so today, they were right.
Here below a few more views shot in our workrooms with more detail...
t.
I am really busy right now, but if I may be allowed a little clarification here, the new sneakers being discussed and introduced with Pollyanna are not our first shoe endeavors, in any sense of the word. We have been developing a variety of special concept hand made shoes in our Paris collections and Private client services for years.
They are however, the very first basic sneakers of this type in the world to ever be made using 100 percent recycled vintage leathers. Recycled leather enables me to avoid killing animals to make the shoes, reduces landfill waste problems, and eliminates methane emissions from cows which are 22 times more damaging to global warming than carbon emissions. All of the materials including the full calfskin linings, leather uppers and 100 percent natural rubber sole are biodegradable. The total transport distance in the creation and production cycle of the shoe is about 100km as all the work was done locally between San Zenone and Cavarzere. The labor used (myself and Giuseppe) is modestly but adequately paid and helps to support 2 legal tax-paying designer craftsmen and their families with kids in northern Italy.
In contrast, the typical sneaker or trainer that you buy today with or without a designer name on it is made out of plastics and synthetic poly fabrics and petrochemical materials which end up in landfills and take about 1000 years to degrade during which time they alter water drainage patterns, destroying precious topsoil and trapping still water which greatly increases mosquito larvae and the growing new worldwide epidemic of deadly new strains of malaria. The global mass manufacturing system that produces them involves an average of 16000 km (10,000 miles) of transport by boat, train, truck and air with a massive corresponding carbon emission footprint on each shoe. And the average wage paid to people in the biggest manufacturing country for brand-name sneakers (Vietnam) is 58 dollars a month. And no, it is not enough for them and their families to live on. In fact, when they try to go on strike, the soldiers are called in to shut them up. When you buy these kind of shoes, you are essentially financing and supporting all of these actions and their repercussions whether you like it or not.
I apologize to those who may think that they have seen the actual product in the previous photos and believe that they are "overblown." They are not overblown, and like everything I design, make and put my name on--you cannot say you have "seen the actual product" until you have really seen the actual product in person, touched it, tried it on, learned something about what it actually is, and been in it for enough time to experience the difference.
They are beautiful, believe me. And they are the most unique and advanced sneaker/trainer concept in the world today.
I am also "lol" at all the "experts" out there who claim to 'know' so much about my work and me, and whether something will go with "all the other GBS stuff" or not. Since 1993, I have presented over 60 Paris collections comprising well over 4,600 different men's and women's designs at the forefront of the world avant-garde circuit where one must constantly change to remain valid season after season--believe me it's the world's most competitive designer arena and not many have stayed in as long as me. I started in the same store in LA as Rick Owens, showed my first Paris collection in the same tents in Paris as Maurizio Altieri, showed my first collection in Milan with the same agent as Carol Christian Poell, and knocked it out on the streets of Japan with Undercover and Number Nine for over a decade. Unless you are one of my long-time staff members or really, really special and devoted clients, there is no way in h_ll you would have seen even 1-2 percent of the total body of design work we have done at the world level. The massive filtering process and hypocrisy by media and retailers, and the fact that since the late 90's we have shut down as much image releasing as possible of our work online on public sites due to industrial copying risks simply make it impossible for you to know the collections in any substantial or adequate manner. And it is just B.S. to try and say so.
The shoes totally go with what we do and are about. Some of you should know that our recycling history goes back 16 years. We also pioneered the designer street fashion movement at the Paris designer level. We were the first in Paris to send out guys in their trainers in a Paris fashion show in 1994, and throughout the mid to late 90's we set the pace for this entire genre, at one point being named the number one designer for young men in Japan (the no. 1 street fashion market in the world) by a major magazine there. Roberta Valentini told me herself in Paris before its opening that the now very famous Boys Loft store by Penelope in Brescia, Italy was created in 1996 based around our leading direction in the designer street fashion movement at that time. An entire magazine "Sport and Street" was created and its first issues were plastered with pics and coverage of our Paris shows. And suddenly, every designer collection was being shown with cool sneakers. We predated the Jil Sander Puma deal by no less than 4 seasons, then all the subsequent Puma and Adidas deals such as Neil Barrett, Alexander McQueen and Stella McCartney ad infinitum.
So for those of you who don't agree as to why I am doing some sneakers, I must cordially and kindly disagree with you. I have every right in the world to do sneakers for GBS stuff. It's in the blood. In more ways than one, we invented the entire look and concept of wearing sneakers with handmade clothes. And as matter of fact, it really is in the blood--my great great grandfather co-founded the U.S. Shoe Corporation in the early 1900's, among their key products in those days was a radical new concept called Keds that turned out to become an enormous success. If nothing else, might some of you armchair designer quarterbacks out there please allow me the humble liberty to pay some homage to my great grandfather Connie McFarland?
And you definitely don't know me...I wear sneakers all the time. And I prefer them to constructed leather-soled shoes. Sorry, I am an older guy, and I like to be comfortable and think that maybe I can still jump and run around a little bit and feed my fantasies. But I am still very picky about what I wear on my feet and hate looking like anyone else in all those dumb big corporation trainers. I need something special, comfortable, beautifully made, and exclusively mine...
Thus the idea for these shoes was simply that I wanted to create the best pair of basic simple sneakers that I could live with in own my life, and my own conscious. Again, I have worn sneakers all my life but lately have been getting more and more turned off by the reports about all the big brands and their questionable, to say the least, approaches to quality, ethical treatment of animals (including humans), and environmental and sustainability track-records. So, this is about sneakers that would be good enough for me in environmentally and ethically sustainable quality, workmanship, comfort and style--in the sense that they have to be just like a plain old pair of old fashioned Keds or Converses (yes Chinorlz that was exactly the design objective of these pieces), not fashion: not Rick's Trainers, Ludwig Reiter, Y3, Bikkembergs, or special edition Nike-Adidas-Puma etc...(note: I too am a collector..for example, I have a pair of the original Yohji Adidas that cost over 700 euros that were awesome (nothing like Y3), and a special pair of 2004 Loveless/Green hightops and 2005 Undercover mens sneakers all bought in Japan, and loved them and wore them all to death--but that is not what these pieces are about).
And together with my friend Giuseppe's incredible work and 30 years of know-how, we did it. Super green, super sustainable, and super ethical. One of the best sneakers in the world that I have ever seen for its timing, and most exclusive. Highly collectable too. Especially once you've got them on. They require a ton of work all by hand to execute and are made by the one person with whom I have been making handmade concept shoes for years who I have the utmost respect for, and can state is one of the most unique working masters in his field in the world. "Overblown" is a little insulting Jamesd...I beg you to make a pair even one tenth as beautiful as these with your two hands.
Visually the idea is a basic. We are not trying to reinvent the wheel with exterior styling. The technique, workmanship and materials are what needed to be featured. And the recycled element gives each shoe a one-of-a-kind combination of color material and detailing in the leathers and adds another industry-first in our extensive recycling design history. So, the concept was to provide 2 simple basic models that can act as a minimalist basic framework for these features. We developed other models that were presented in Paris which are far more aesthetically radical and different, but this is not what was felt right for Pollyanna's introduction project, and after the reaction of the people who really did see the actual product on Sunday and bought or ordered their own customized pairs on the spot, and are continuing to do so today, they were right.
Here below a few more views shot in our workrooms with more detail...
t.
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