The DIRT newsletter
A brief 1-minute, weekly email on footwear Design Ideas & Random Thoughts for shoedogs and the general footwear community.
Past DIRT articles 👇
The Forgotten Story of Chuck Taylor, Post-Functional Value and the Shoe That Got Famous By Becoming Useless.
Chuck Taylor built the world's most famous shoe for forty-four years without a penny in royalties. Nike bought it bankrupt, changed almost nothing, and now makes two billion dollars a year from it. The story of how the Converse All Star got famous by becoming useless.
The Controversial Story of Feiyue, the Ship of Theseus & the Award Reviving the Ancient Craft of Shoemaking
A rubber tyre factory in Shanghai. A French marketing executive in a kung fu class. A trademark registered without permission. One shoe. Two companies. A legal standoff that has never been resolved.
The Birkenstock, Semiotics and the Ugliest Shoe in the World That Became a $9 Billion Company
The Birkenstock never changed. The meaning around it did. The story of how a German orthopaedic sandal rejected by every shoe store in America became a $9 billion company without altering a single thing about the design.