An increasing, albeit still small, number of collaborations—especially in the luxury space—are focused on barefoot shoes, a type of footwear that took off with runners in the 1970s and is making a comeback of sorts today. With thin, even soles and no elevation at the heel; a lightweight and flexible construction throughout; no padding or […]
Archive | Footwear
Luxury Autos Drive Limited Sneaker Designs
News recently came to light about two limited-edition sneaker collaborations, namely Alfa Romeo pairing with Greats and Porsche teaming with Puma. These new initiatives are a reminder of how car brands, especially on the luxury end of the scale, have been common and high-profile players in the crowded sneaker-collaboration space for years, with the frequency […]
Fashion-Forward Safety Shoes
Fashion labels and designers are forging licensing and collaboration deals in the occupational footwear sector with increasing frequency. This is a category that has built a track record of very successful long-term licensing agreements with closely related brands, but it still offers plenty of space for fashion and lifestyle properties and other types of IP. […]
Stepping Into Pickleball
Collaborations centered on pickleball are still on the rise as the sport continues to grow in popularity with mainstream consumers, both as a spectator and especially as a participant sport. Examples range from designer- and celebrity-driven apparel collections to paddles and other gear tied to all kinds of properties, from Vlasic pickles to the musical […]
Leaving a Footprint
Footwear brands, designers, and 3D printing manufacturers have been collaborating on 3D-printed shoes for at least a decade, and the number of examples has slowly been growing over time. This year designer collaborations have been notable enough on the runways that 3D-printed footwear has been called out by fashion watchers as a key trend of […]
Standing in Someone Else’s Shoes
As retailers continue to increase brand-extension activity based on their proprietary IP—through licensing or other models—footwear has, not surprisingly, become a key category of interest for retail chains in the fashion and lifestyle spaces. Sometimes the licensed or collaborative shoes are sold primarily in the licensors’ own stores, but they often find distribution opportunities in […]
Fun with Footwear
When it comes to adult-skewing lifestyle collaborations with entertainment properties, footwear is a frequent area of focus. Recently, a very small but high-profile handful of in-world footwear initiatives have taken this phenomenon to the next level, attracting significant attention among fans and the media: Red Wing Shoes paired with Nintendo for a real-life version of […]
Best Foot Forward
Vans and Converse, not to mention Nike and its Jordan brand, Puma, Adidas, and the like, are among most active partners in the world of collaborations, as they try to feed the near-insatiable demand from sneaker collectors and other fans for new and unexpected designs. Less widely recognized on a mainstream scale, but still very […]
No Animals Were Harmed
As young adults and other consumers become increasingly concerned about the environment and make their purchase decisions accordingly, marketers of apparel, accessories, and footwear are touting a growing number of vegan products. These are made of natural materials or recycled synthetics in lieu of leather and other animal-based components. Vegan footwear in particular is starting […]
Shoe Business
With both sneaker collaborations and corporate novelty merchandise programs ubiquitous and still on the rise, is it any wonder that we’re seeing an explosion of offbeat corporate-branded shoes on the market? Products announced lately involve properties that are frequent participants in licensing and collaborations, as well as those that are new to the game. Many […]