Shoes Can Put Spring In Your Fashion Step!

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The editors at Lucky magazine say shoes should be at the center of your spring wardrobe.

Shoes and accessories set the tone for an outfit. While someone’s clothing style may not vary, because their body type is what it is, people can be wildly experimental with shoes and use them to change the whole look of an outfit.

Story Link http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/04/01/earlyshow/living/beauty/main3984853.shtml

Video Link http://www.cbsnews.com/sections/i_video/main500251.shtml?id=3985842n

WEDGES/ GLADIATORS PEEP TOE BROGUES / CRAZY HEELS of the season

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The woman who made a fortune off Crocs

Source: Printed in Times UK 19 July 2008

Sheri Schmeltzer is the woman behind Jibbitz, a Crocs accessory that started as a way of amusing her children

The flowery button thingies on her Crocs are called Jibbitz. They are a presently a global craze created accidentally by an American housewife in her basement, and are worth $20 million (£10m). The American housewife in question lives in Boulder, Colorado, and is an attractive 43-year-old called Sheri Schmelzer. The idea originated three years ago.

For those still blissfully ignorant, they are pieces of coloured rubber-like buttons, selling for around $3 (£1.50) a pop, in 1,100 different patterns.

According to website, Jibbitz “allow Crocs consumers to personalise their footwear to creatively express their individuality”, which is perhaps over-intellectualising it a bit.

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Related Links: http://www1.jibbitz.com/

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Zappos CEO Built a Footwear Empire One Shoebox at a Time

Source: abcnews.com on July 08.2008

HOW ZAPPOS BUILD THE FOOTWEAR ONLINE BUSINESS

Online shopping Web site Zappos is doing for shoes what Amazon did for books: trying to revolutionize not only how business is done but how people work.

The name is an adaptation of the Spanish word for “shoe.” This year, nine years after going into business, Zappos is on track to sell $1 billion worth of shoes.

Read the complete story http://www.abcnews.go.com/Business/Story?id=5326827&page=1

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CrocsRx – Custom Cloud Molded Shoe gets CMS approval

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Link: http://www.fibre2fashion.com/news/daily-textile-industries-news/newsdetails.aspx?news_id=60239

Custom Cloud Molded Shoe gets CMS approval

July 23, 2008 (USA)

CrocsRx, the medical division of Crocs Inc, announced the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has accepted the Custom Cloud model into the diabetic shoe program. Acceptance by the CMS validates the superior benefits of Croslite material, Crocs proprietary closed-cell resin, as the Custom Cloud is the first molded shoe to receive an approved code verification from the organization. Effective immediately, medical professionals can fit the more than 23 million Americans suffering from diabetes in the CrocsRx Custom Cloud. The approved shoe comes with three pairs of heat moldable orthotic insoles and is fitted by a professional practitioner, to offer long-term relief for foot ailments related to the disease. Recognized by the American Podiatric Medical Association with its distinguished Seal of Acceptance, the Custom Cloud offers diabetic patients several advantages over traditional specialty footwear. Among the most notable benefit is the customized fit that stems from the Croslite Ag+ material. Croslite Ag+ material expands upon the comfort attributes inherent to Croslite material while adding anti-bacterial, anti-fungal and odor resistant nano-Silver ceramic crystals. Moreover, patients find the Custom Cloud to be easier to slip on, easier to keep clean and that the shoe weighs less than other specialty medical footwear styles accepted by CMS. The Custom Cloud is available in three color combinations including Navy, Black and Chocolate in men’s size 4-13.5 and women’s size 6-13.5, with four width offerings. “We are thrilled with the Center for Medicare and Medicaid’s decision to include CrocsRx footwear in the Medicare program,” stated Eddie Scott, Director of CrocsRx. “CMS acceptance is an enormous accomplishment as this governing body completed an extensive review of clinical and historical performance data and found Croslite material to be a suitable alternative to existing specialty leather footwear.”

Crocs Inc

Crocs, Inc. Launches Escalator Safety Awareness Initiative

Source:Marketwatch.com

http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/crocs-inc-launches-escalator-safety/story.aspx?guid={B2103EC4-5541-4C66-AF76-F15C50E504BC}&dist=hppr

Jul 22, 2008 (BUSINESS WIRE) — Crocs, Inc.

CROX announced plans to launch an escalator safety awareness initiative over the course of the next year. The first steps will include the addition of consumer education messages regarding escalator safety to hang tags on Crocs(TM) shoes sold worldwide as well as supporting organizations that further the cause of safe escalator maintenance and use.

Hang tags with educational escalator safety messages will begin to appear on Crocs shoes sold through Crocs retailers and company-owned outlets, including its online store ( www.crocs.com) within the next few months. The company plans to have the educational hang tag fully implemented by the rollout of its Spring 2009 line.

Existing hang tags affixed to Crocs(TM) shoes already explain how to care for and clean Crocs(TM) footwear, and also provide information on the company’s SolesUnited(SM) shoe recycling and donation program ( www.solesunited.com). New language added to the hang tags reminds consumers to use care when riding escalators and moving walkways, while providing these specific tips:

– Stand facing forward in the center of the step

– Step on and off carefully

– Do not touch sides below handrail

– Avoid the sides of the steps where shoe entrapment can occur

– Supervise children at all times

“Consumer safety is very important to us,” said Ron Snyder, President and CEO of Crocs, Inc. “Escalator entrapments have occurred for more than 40 years, far longer than Crocs has been in business, and these accidents often are preventable. Because the Crocs brand is so visible and so popular around the world, we have an opportunity to reach millions of consumers of all ages, including parents, with educational messages that will help draw attention to this important issue.”

Although tens of millions of pairs of Crocs(TM) shoes have been sold in the United States during the past five years, an analysis of nationwide safety data from the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, conducted by Crocs, shows there has been no corresponding increase in the frequency of escalator shoe entrapment injuries.

Industry experts believe many entrapments can be easily prevented by implementing safety requirements in the area of escalator design and maintenance. For instance, as has been documented in testing done by others, including the CPSC, shoe and foot entrapments can be prevented by proper routine escalator maintenance, including periodic lubrication of escalator side panels with silicone or other lubricants.

Additionally, industry experts such as Joseph Stabler, a St. Louis-based escalator inspector and consultant, believe entrapments would be greatly reduced by requiring utilization of existing safety technology. “A number of escalator entrapments occur at the side of the step,” Stabler said. “These can be dramatically reduced by requiring the installation of step safety sideplates. Some escalators already utilize step safety sideplate technology so it’s something that simply would need to be implemented as a matter of course.”

Therefore, one of the future goals of this initiative is to push for changes in elevator/escalator safety code regulations regarding the design, installation and maintenance of escalators. Crocs hopes to work with or support organizations that share this important safety objective. Any organizations fitting this description can contact Crocs at publicrelations@crocs.com for further information.

Crocs is hopeful its efforts in this area will help further the cause of escalator safety and ultimately reduce the number of escalator entrapments around the world.

Flirty footwear can flirt with pain

Source: thebrooklynsun

July23. 2008

Do you have your eye on that ultra-flat, strappy sandal? Think flip-flops are simply the most comfortable shoe ever invented?

The article by Dawn Aulet in Brooklysun looks at this issue

Link: TheBolingbrookSun.com

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Greece theatres threatened by chewing gum and high heels

Source:

July 4, 2008

According to a article in Times paper – Greece threatres threatened by high heels

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Chewing gum, high heels, booming amplifiers and other modern plagues are seriously damaging Greece’s 2,500-year-old outdoor theatres and should be banned, according to the country’s powerful archaeological establishment.

As the shows become more elaborate, with bulkier sets, highvolume speakers for acoustic shock effect, and high heels clattering on the ancient marble, experts fear that theatres such as Epidavros, built 2,400 years ago for men in leather sandals and relying on natural acoustics, are under threat.

“When the ancient Epidavros theatre, above, was built 2,400 years ago most of the audience wore leather sandals”

Add the countless wads of used chewing gum that regularly stud the old terraced marble seats, requiring painstaking removal, and the Central Archaeological Council has declared war on modernity. “We find ourselves regularly cleaning kilos of chewing gum from the Herod Atticus theatre,” said Kathy Paraschi, an architect working on the Parthenon restoration. “It’s an amazing and awful situation.”

She added: “Speaking as a woman and an Athenian, I like my fashionable spiky heels.” But wearing them to Epidavros is “like taking a hammer and splitting the blocks apart”.

The Central Archaeological Council is considering a ban on chewing gum and high heels, though the Herod Atticus theatre on the south side of the Acropolis is made of tougher Attic marble and can better stand up to modern footwear fashion.

As if that were not enough, avant-garde directors are being blamed for damaging the sites where ancient writers once performed their plays. “Despite repeated warnings,” the council said in a recent statement, “stage sets seem to be getting bigger and decibel levels louder. This could inflict damage on the ancient structures.”

Some see the archaeologists’ complaints as part of a conservative campaign. At Epidavros last month Matthias Langhoff, a German director, interrupted his production of Sophocles’ Philoctetes, revamped as a modern antiwar play. In mid-performance he harangued his audience to denounce what he called “Greek culture-politics”. The council had previously objected to Mr Langhoff’s large set and avant-garde interpretation, which they said took unacceptable liberties with Sophocles’s original text.

Mrs Paraschi complained that many modern directors “don’t respect the rules about keeping the theatres safe and clean”. “Is Greece really protecting its antiquities?” wrote a reviewer in Kathimerini newspaper.

“We love them, of course, [but] in any other way, in all the other crucial ways that actually matter, we don’t really pay them that much attention.”

Vietnam’s footwear industry likely faces added woes

(Original Source: SGT) – Posted 4 July 08

03 July 2008

The Association of Footwear Producers of Italy as an EC member will likely ask the commission to extend the anti-dumping tariff deadline.

VietNamNet Bridge – Vietnam’s footwear industry, yet to relieve from the European Commission (EC) decision to strip it off the preferential tariffs, will likely face the added woes of extended anti-dumping tariff imposed on shoes with leather upper parts, an industry source said. Read further Story

The Association of Footwear Producers of Italy as an EC member will likely ask the commission to extend the anti-dumping tariff deadline, according to the Vietnam Leather and Footwear Association, or Lefaso.

Lefaso chairman Nguyen Duc Thuan said that the anti-dumping tariff had been applied since 2006, and would be automatically removed on October 7 in case the EC receives no appeal from any of its 27 members by July 7 this year. He said that the Italian was preparing a formal appeal.

If the appeal is submitted, it is possible that the EC will reinvestigate Vietnam’s leather footwear products for 15 more months. And if this unwanted case occurs, it means that the country’s leather and footwear industry will continue facing the anti-dumping tariff for at least 15, more months, Thuan told the Daily.

On June 13, the country’s leather and footwear enterprises received unwanted news when the EC decided to remove Vietnamese-made footwear from its Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) which will probably be implemented since early next year.

The removal of GSP for Vietnam is said to cause difficulty and negative impacts on domestic leather and footwear enterprises as their products win have to compete harsher with items from other exporting countries.

However, Thuan expressed his optimism, saying that the anti-dumping tariff might not be extended and recommended enterprises to keep calm. He added that Lefaso and officials of the Ministry of Industry and Trade have been in talks with EC officials to have the anti-dumping tariff removed as soon as possible.

Meanwhile, local makers are also seeking the Government’s approval for slashing import tariffs on shoe materials and accessories to as to bolster local enterprises’ competitiveness.

Diep Thanh Kiet, vice chairman of HCMC Shoes and Leather Association, told the Daily that the association last week had sent a petition to the Ministry of Industry and Trade to ask for a reduction of the import tariff on finished leather materials to 5% from 10%.

If the petition to halve the tariff is approved, it will help the city’s leather and shoes enterprises to overcome the hardship, especially when the GSP is removed early next year and in case the anti-dumping tariff is extended, according to Kiet.

“The reduction of import tariff on leather materials will make the country’s footwear and leather industry more competitive with the rivals in the region as well as in the world in the future,” Kiet said.

At the moment, Vietnam’s footwear industry is heavily reliant on outside materials, as some 75% of its demand for material is imported from other countries.

Last year, the industry obtained total export revenue of some US$3.9 billion, with the European market along contributing some 54%.

The country expected to reach total export turnover of US$4.5 billion in 2008, an increase of 17% compared to last year, and also expected to attain an export turnover of some US$6.2 billion by 2010.

Fashion flip-flop

Source: http://www.lowellsun.com/lifestyles/ci_9751185

Whether it’s crystal-encrusted or an old-school beach sandal, it’s summer’s must footwear

By Ashley Morris, Sun Correspondent

Article Last Updated: 01/07/2008

Back in the ’60s when flip-flops were called thongs, they were a simple summer accessory worn and sold only at the beach. Only within the last decade could they be found dressy and bedazzled for formal attire.Many consider the original shoes or sandals that people wore in the Egyptian period the original flip-flops.

Nowadays, the technological world has left its mark on this ancient summer footwear. The flip-flop has been upgraded to fit the expectation of a generation chock full of high-tech gadgets.

“I have a mild flip-flop obsession but that’s mostly because I hate heels and hate real shoes, other than sneakers” says Beth Stack, a 30-year-old teacher and mom from Lowell.

“I own over 25 pairs, mostly Teva and Reefs. Most of mine are casual or athletic ones. My favorite flops are my green Reefs with the bottle opener in the bottom-they’re my favorite color.”

The Reef’s fanning flip-flop has a built-in bottle opener just in case your beverage is not a screw-top. The Reef Stash flip-flop also has a style with a built-in compartment in the sole where one can store money or a credit card. This is perfect for men or women who hate taking pocketbooks to the beach and is available at Reef.com.

For those of you who did not lose that 20 pounds you promised yourself and realized summer was here last Friday, here’s something to ease your bikini-baring anxieties. The Bath and Body Works’ fit flop claims to improve muscle tone, increase circulation, improve balance and posture as well as burn calories.

“I’m burning calories and starting to see more definition in my calves,” says Dagny Runyan, a 28-year-old swim coach from Lowell.

Even Swarovski Crystal has jumped on the flip-flop bandwagon. Designer Stewart Weitzman is selling “Indiana Jelly” flip-flops with crystal detail for $155. They come in clear and gold and can be purchased at Bloomingdales.com.

There is a wide variety of price ranges when it comes to flip-flops. Old Navy still sells your basic summer flop for under $4. Wal-Mart sells its own brands, Faded Glory and Sand Sun, for around $5. Reebok, Nike and Adidas can usually be found on sale from $15 to $25. These sports brands come in a variety of styles and colors. Adidas makes Ayuna 2, a flip-flop with a fitFOAM cushion that molds to your foot. It’s lightweight comfort that comes in a variety of eye-catching colors.

After surveying a group of people on their stance on flip-flops and what brands or styles they prefer, the results are split. half really like their inexpensive, simple flip-flops. “I buy my flip-flops at Wal-Mart,” says 19-year-old Megan McLellan of Lowell.

Whether you love them or hate them, favor the expensive brands or a simple pair of Old Navy’s flip-flops, the super-casual footwear isn’t going anywhere, at least until September. Millions are sold annually and with new features to catch the eye of buyers, it’s more likely that flip-flops will be an ongoing success rather then a super flop.

Vi-Ga Footwear bags Best SME Award 2007

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July 01, 2008 (India)

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Vi-Ga, one of the fastest growing footwear company has won the Best SME Award 2007 organized by the Indian Chamber of Small and Medium Business Limited. This Award, which is the highest honour in the SME Chamber, has been conferred on Mr. Vinayak Mahtani, CEO, Vi-Ga for his tremendous contribution to the SMEs.

Vi-Ga was awarded the trophy of the National level SMS Excellence Award 2007, by the Small & Medium Business Development Chamber of India on the occasion of 6th international conference on SME Financing, Better Banking Regulation and Integration of SMEs.

Dr. C. Rangarajan, Chairman, Economic Advisory Council to Prime Minister while handing over the award said, “Vi-Ga has firmly established itself as a leading player in the retail footwear category in the country. Vi-Ga has built an incredibly successful business from scratch, one which has had a truly transformational impact on our industry, on the customers it serves and on India’s economy.

Mr. Mahtani’s brave and ambitious strategies will continue to resonate across the country, our industry and the business community globally, becoming a benchmark for emerging footwear markets worldwide. We congratulate Vinayak Mahtani, on what has been an immense personal contribution to the vitality of the Footwear world.”

On the receiving the award Mr. Vinayak Mahtani said, “This is a tremendous honour and I would like to thank the Chamber of India for considering us worthy of this award. This award is a tribute to the SME integration in India, Vi-Ga’s vision and the emergence of Retail boom on the Indian horizon. It has been a privilege for me personally and Vi-Ga to have been a part of this revolution that has delivered affordable services for all and has contributed to the lives of millions across India.”

“We are delighted and honored to receive this prestigious award from Government of India. We would like to thank our customers for their strong support in a short span of three years and we will continue to focus on bringing high fashion, quality products throughout the region with the vision to provide international fashion at pocket friendly prices.” Added Mr Mahtani

In the quest for the unique and unusual Vi-Ga describes itself the finest for the fashion footwear at affordable prices for the entire family. All the buying for Vi-Ga happens internationally as well as nationally with designing teams in Dubai, Düsseldorf, Delhi & Singapore. A strong growing retail presence in North of India, Vi-Ga aims to provide “fashion footwear at affordable prices” to the fashion conscious patrons.

Vi-ga, ‘good shoes better prices’ is famous and enjoyed for its variety available in accessories like bags, wallets and footwear. Vi-Ga, has categorized its extensive range into sub-brands like Maharani, Page 3, Logo, Easy step, Fifth Avenue, Victory for ladies; Logo, Wall Street, Victory, Easy Step, Wanted for Men whereas Junior, Ms. Attitude, Mini,Victory for kids each catering to exclusive categories & designs.

Mr. Chandrakant Salunkhe, Chairman, SME Chamber of India said “ He is now extending his business plans to Indian retail on the pan India basis by opening 100 more stores in India by 2010. I just know he will do for this sector what he has done for the Indian Retail – and Indian consumers will be the big winners.”