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.
The Adizero Evo 3, the Theory of Marginal Gains and the Shoe That Finally Broke Two Hours
A 97-gram shoe changed running history at the London Marathon. Here is how Adidas built it, and why Nike started the race they didn't finish.
Prince's Shoes, Enclothed Cognition and the 3,000 Pairs Nobody Was Meant to See
Ten years on from his death, Prince left behind over 3,000 custom pairs of heels and a question every footwear designer should sit with.
Frank Rudy, Loss Aversion and the Air Sole That Almost Never Happened
Frank Rudy and the Air Sole That Almost Never Happened.
Ferragamo's Rainbow Platforms, Functional fixedness and Luigi Colani.
The Iconic Ferragamo Sandal Born from Scarcity and Surrealism, designed for Judy Garland and reborn 80 years later.