Category Archives: sole

Shoe Game Mess: Stepped In Tar

Whenever you get a scratch or a gash on your sneaker remember it could have been worse. It could’ve been my sneaker. This time it was. My fault. I was zooming around on foot the other day (not the video app). They’ve been doing lots of road repair on the real streets here. I was rushing — I stepped in undried tar unknowingly (or some similar sealant who cares). Shoulda woulda coulda. We hit it with some brushes and fluids later and the foul debris with additional pebbleage from the short walk back was permanent. It’s been about a decade since I’ve stepped in poo. Maybe I was due for one of my soles being turned-to-stone.

In my Shoe Game Chess piece, these court trainers were some knightly exemplars who’d given years’ good wear and justly protected my lead foot from a road hazard. Over at hospital (the experts at East Village Shoe Repair) they were able to get most of the gunk out using proper tools and a bombardment of Moneysworth and Best cleaner. Alas, these are now long over the fresh n’ clean horizon but can trudge on as pawns continuing lower-key use in the rain, doing chores, cleaning or painting.

Whenever you get a ding or a nick on your favorite kick remeber it could have been worse. Could have been your bare ass foot. Thanks shoe.

Zederna Cedar Wood Insoles: First Impression

We love natural materials on the inside of our footwear. Leather, suede and cork do a superior job of molding to our footprint and absorbing perspiration. What about wood? A brand called Zederna manufactures these ultra-thin insoles made of cedar wood, and I’m giving them a good walk-around.

ZedernaInsolesThin

Cedar is the world’s go-to freshening wood. Layering a thin piece of 100% cedar over 100% cotton to create a shoe insole seems brilliant at first impression. The pleasant smell is there. The soles are stiff, pliable, and about as thin as a penny.

ZedernaBacks

Zedernas come in fourteen different sizes (women’s 5 to men’s 14), and are not intended to ever be cut with scissors. This product worked best in shoes with a relatively neutral insole shape and would not be ideal for sneakers or footwear with orthotic-style footbeds. More on that later.

ZedernaThinAsCoins

The packaging says you can wear these without socks. After trying them in a variety of different types of shoe, I gave them a long-term gig inside my Softstar Portlanders which I tend to wear sockless around at home during the warmer months. 

ZedernasInSoftStars

To be continued 

Almost Shoe Religion and Horseshoes

Have you tried Atheist brand shoes yet?

AtheistShoes
atheistberlin.com

atheistberlin.com
atheistberlin.com

 Probably not, as they’re brand new. This Berlin company Kickstarted itself into existence with a classic concept (quality materials, handcrafting) and an authentic open kitchen approach (check out their site) to why they deserve to be purchased by you (me), in a world where consumers become converts to global sneaker gods.

Atheist doesn't believe in any shoe
Atheist doesn’t believe in any shoe

The Atheists are made in Guimarães Portugal, using high grade Nubuk, calfskin, and other leathers. 

An Atheist shoe begins with 3 pieces of natural, unprocessed leather
An Atheist shoe begins with 3 pieces of natural, unprocessed leather

They even make a vegan imitation leather option for your vegan friends (you’re still friends right?). Their website is a great read in itself. As an American barraged by the billboards of Broadway daily, I find Atheist’s campaign to be refreshing in its honesty, and entertaining with its info.

Skechers has made an endorsement deal with a horse.

Mr. S
Image from photo by Anthony Gruppuso, USA TODAY Sports

Skechers, a marketing company that just happens to be in the footwear business, has draped California Chrome with this blue training blanket and a big sponsorship deal for the Belmont Stakes in Elmont, New York this weekend. Of course Mr. S will not be wearing two pairs of Skechers on the track. The crew will don the sneakers, and if Chrome wins, expect to see all Skechers everything everywhere. For information on the actual horseshoes attached to California Chrome’s hooves by an equine footwear blacksmith click here.

 This popdiatribe is going, going, done! Check back soon~ C

Still image from the Young Liars "Night Window" video directed by Nathan Boey
Still image from the Young Liars “Night Window” video directed by Nathan Boey

Popdiatribe: Long Walk Weekend

Designer Satsuki Ohata was inspired by cheese dip to create a new concept in minimalist footwear that may perfectly match your foot by “dipping” it in liquified polyvinyl chloride.

SatsukiOhataFondueSlipper

Images from Satsuki.co
Images from Satsuki.co

These have been created around a foot mold, but Satsuki hopes to develop a dip & dry kit so we can safely make our own Fondue Slippers at home. Something like this:

SatsukiFondueSlipperKitIdea

FondueSlipperDiagram

 And then:

Images from Satsuki.co
Images from Satsuki.co

Footwear Industries of Tennessee Inc. (FIT USA) just opened a brand new footwear manufacturing plant in Jefferson City, TN.  The 40,000 square foot facility will be making a line of men’s work and hunting boots, complete with soles fabricated on location by a state-of-the-art direct-injection molding machine.

FIT USA sewing

FIT USA plant images from WATE.COM
FIT USA plant images from WATE.COM

Inventor/videomaker Colin Furze is bringing X-Men powers to life in his Lincolnshire garage. Weeks after he had the net going nuts over some convincing Wolverine claws, he’s back with a D.I.Y. version of Magneto’s boots that enable standing on a (metal) ceiling.

Don’t try this or the PVC dip thing at home without expert supervision! Have a nice weekend.

East Village Shoe Repair Finds Footing In Brooklyn

Under the JMZ train that runs along Broadway like a zipper attaching the Bushwick and Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhoods of Brooklyn New York, an old NYC favorite has popped back up to continue doing what they’ve expertly done for years.

East Village Shoe Repair moves to Brooklyn
      Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled footwear yearning to breathe free

The same footwear stretchers, buffing equipment, and years of experience that the fellas commanded on St. Mark’s Place has been transplanted to 1083 Broadway in Brooklyn, NY as part of the Brandhunters consignment store complex.  Think of East Village Shoe Repair as a hospital for your beloved kicks. Barring complete obliteration- there isn’t much that can stop EVSR from bringing your footwear back from near death. Resoling, re-lacing, regluing, reattaching, re-whatever it takes to get your favorite kickers back on the path- using top notch equipment from yesteryear- these guys can find a way if there is one. You might have another couple years left in those oxfords..

Congrats from Popdiatry on the new location! C