Image by AlishaV via Flickr
I went to school in Ann Arbor, Mich.–a very lovely, but very cold, college town–and my freshman year my mother made sure I had a good pair of boots for tromping through the snow and ice, which some years began as early as October and could cover the ground well into May. Yet so many males I met during my four years of undergrad wore not boots or sensible covered shoes at all. They wore Tevas, those supremely unattractive sandals with clunky, often woven Velcro straps that are meant for white-water rafting and other outdoor adventures. Not only did they wear Tevas, but they wore them with socks when the temperature got below 40 degrees or so–socks that often clashed with the colors on the sandal’s straps.
I thankfully have not spotted a pair of Tevas since leaving Ann Arbor (except during a rafting expedition in Patagonia, an entirely appropriate place and situation in which to sport them). Once ubiquitous, in the 90s, around the same time that Birkenstocks enjoyed a resurgence, they have fallen out of favor; most young men prefer Converse or some other kind of sneaker if they are going to dress down–even Mark Zuckerberg has opted for the more streamlined Adidas slide. That is I hadn’t spotted one until this morning, when I opened my inbox and found an e-mail from lifestyle e-newsletter Daily Candy with the subject line “You’re Never Going To Believe This: Grey Ant Makes Tevas Cool Again.”
Grey Ant, a hipster fashion label known for its denim and its 80s-inspired clothing, has collaborated with the outdoor shoe brand to bring you the Teva stiletto (you can get a look at it here). The shoe comes in tan and black–both decorated with funky prints–and retails for $330.
Now, a lot of sports brands have collaborated with high-end designers for more luxe–and expensive–product lines. Adidas has enjoyed successful collaborations with Japanese avant garde designer Yohji Yamamoto–who designs the Y-3 line–and Stella McCartney. Reebok teamed up with Giorgio Armani’s Emporio Armani line for an apparel collection this summer. And Puma has a new line, called Urban Mobility, designed by iconoclastic British designer Hussein Chalayan. There’s nothing like a glossy, high-fashion name to sex up a rather stale sportswear brand.
But this collaboration seems a little odd. For one, Grey Ant is not a household name–nor is it one with a lot of fashion world clout like Yamamoto or Chalayan. There are a limited number of these shoes available, but limited availability alone isn’t enough incentive to get people to buy your product. For two, these shoes don’t seem to fulfill any function or need. McCartney and Armani created clothing that could be worn in the gym but still look stylish. No matter how comfortable these Tevas are, you can’t possibly hike in 4-inch heels; I manage to get mine stuck in a subway grate at least once a day–can you imagine wearing them in a rugged terrain filled with rocks and crevices? And, most important of all, the shoes look more than a tad ridiculous–non?
Article source: http://blogs.forbes.com/raquellaneri/2010/11/29/grey-ant-and-teva-collaborate-on-most-ridiculous-shoe-ever/?boxes=financechannelforbes
Filed Under Fashion News
Tags: Ladies Shoes Fashion
