Archive for Footwear

How High is Too High?

Finding the correct heel height is really quite easy, provided that extreme fashion does not get in the way. However, it is undoubtedly a key issue when shopping for shoes, as heels that are too high can result in some very unpleasant health issues. Before diving into how to solve the comfort versus fashion debate, it is important to know what heels that are too high actually do.

There are two major issues that come with high heels and they are the ankles and the knees. Over the years, wearing high heels causes unnecessary strain on the ankles and can cause a growth to develop on the back of the ankle in order to adjust to the unnatural position. Additionally, high heels create an overall, unnatural walking position, which can also put strain on the knees from displaced impact. These are not the only risks associated with high heels but are the most common and unpleasant.

So what is the ideal heel height? In general, no more than three inches. However, there is some flexibility here depending on the type of heel. Normally, stilettos are never, ever recommended but if they are worn, shorter heels are always better. There is just no advisable way around it. For pointy heels such as these, two inches is the recommended height. For more height, go with wide heels like wedges. Comfort typically equals healthy feet and wedges can provide more comfort at higher elevations. For wedges, four inches is the absolute maximum, though really three and a half inches is ideally the highest. The same typically applies to boots, provided the heel is wide enough to support the whole foot`s heel. For heels that are in between, two and a half inches is the ideal height.

Usually, a woman tends towards too high heels, but not always. Wearing shoes that are literally and totally flat, like flip-flops and flats, is not good for feet either. There are two reasons for this that can vary from person to person. For instance, most people have a natural arch to their foot, so arch support is necessary for long term comfort and foot health. However, a certain level of thickness is also needed to displace some of the natural impact of walking, as well as miscellaneous objects such as pebbles, sticks, pieces of glass and other such objects found on the ground. So, even for those who are flat footed, it is always better to have, at the very least, a half an inch of heel. Wearing paper thin, flat shoes is essentially like walking around barefoot, which can be nice, but is not recommended for long periods of walking. For “flats”, the general height recommendation is one to two inches. These are the basic guidelines to use for shopping, but ultimately the feet do the talking. If extended wearing of the shoes causes heel or ankle pain, it is probably because the heel is not the right height.

Autumn-Winter Trends

The humble Wellington boot has been with us for many many years and I think it is safe to say that pretty much every person in the UK has owned at least one pair of wellies at some point in their lifetime! They are perhaps one of the most practical items of footwear to have in your wardrobe for the winter weather and indeed to survive some British summers too!

For many years the practical black or green wellies have been favoured by the country set, gardeners or farmers but the last few years have seen wellies become a fashion item and the trends, styles and sheer variety of wellies available from the high street and from designer names alike, has become almost overwhelming. Many a celebrity has been snapped in their finest stylish designer clothes and a pair of wellies, Kate Moss for example was famously captured at the Glastonbury music festival in 2005 in a denim mini skirt and a wellies.

The image of Wellington boots being purely for children splashing in puddles and ugly clumpy boots for adults is long gone and the trends for autumn and winter have their booted feet firmly at the music festivals of the summer. The colours, patterns and styles that emerge triumphant with the music loving, fashion conscious festival goer will undoubtedly continue into the latter part of the year. Wellies follow the fashion trends of all other footwear with everything from wedge soles to lace ups and their own unique colours and patterns, spots and stripes, animal prints or flowers and every other point in between.

Believe it or not there are designers that have created ladies wellies that are both sleek and elegant. The luxurious Le Chameau boots are created by designers and craftsmen out of natural rubber, the Aigle label has making footwear for over 150 years and the hand crafted boots are renowned for being extremely comfortable which is ideal for anyone who will be wearing their wellies all day long. One of the most famous names in footwear is Jimmy Choo who has now become involved in designing a range of Hunter Wellies which will no doubt have the style and design yet maintain the eternally practical nature of the Wellington boot. Whether you are a committed festival goer, a fan of camping and the great outdoors or just in need of a practical item of footwear for rainy months and snowy days, walking in the countryside with your dog or playing in the park with your children a good pair of wellies is a sound investment!

Chic retail for the bargain hunter

Shoebacca.com is one of the most exclusive and chic retail destinations for the bargain hunter who also aspires for the best in quality.  They seem to have their pulse on the requirements of the customers as they cater to all kinds of footwear ranging from athletic shoes to discount shoes. They also cater to a wide range of attire that takes care of various price points, thus ensuring there is something for everyone.

This store boasts of an inventory that is updated on a regular basis, thereby displaying the very latest in collection.  Whether it is footwear for men or enticing apparel for women or the choice of exquisite items for children, they have them all and what’s more are very customer focused in their dealings and turnarounds.

Visitors to their website are in for a treat as besides the best prices offered for online purchases, they can save more money by enrolling themselves for the newsletter.  In addition to all this, those enrolled will receive constant updates on the latest in footwear with regard to style and price of brands like Adidas, New Balance, Nike, Puma, Dexter and many other famous brands.

The site has a clean uncluttered look about it and the different categories for men, women and children are neatly organized.  There are separate sections for toddlers and infants and that makes it easier to navigate the site to make the correct pick.  Shoes have been bifurcated to cater to both the ordinary and the premier varieties and that again is a very good initiative.  It saves time and effort for somebody looking at items with a particular budget in mind.

Another pleasant convenience on the shoes page is the flexibility to choose your savings percentage and only have those models shown to you.  This also results in a focused website experience.  Moreover, you can have shoes displayed by brand, color, style and width which again make for an easier surfing experience.  For example, when you click for a selection of Adidas shoes, you get the entire collection on various pages one after the other and on further clicking on a particular one that catches your fancy, a detailed description of that particular item is mentioned very neatly.  The description is quite lengthy and covers every possible feature of the item in question leaving very few questions unanswered.

The same style of page design is replicated in the apparel section.

Other standard features of most well organized websites are to be found at this site too and you can get real time status of your orders and other purchase terms.  The Help and FAQ section is another well thought out section that will be of use to every visitor.

Designer Trainers

Of all the trainer shoe companies that are marketing men’s trainers today one of the most famous and prolific has to be Nike. Nike started out life as Blue Ribbon Sports (BRS) in 1964 initially operating as a distributor for Japanese sports shoe maker Onitsuka Tiger and selling mostly at track events. In 1971 the BRS and Onitsuka Tiger relationship was coming to an end and BRS was started to go it alone with its own line of trainers bearing the now famous “Swooch” trademark. In 1978 BRS officially became Nike which was the line of shoes it had marketed since 1972. With the now iconic “Waffle trainer” introduced in 1974, Nike had reached 50% of the USA market in 1980 when it finally became a public company.

Sportswear Company Lacoste, another iconic label in the sports fashion industry, finally entered the fashion shoe market in 1985 when they introduced their designer label launching the new line of Lacoste tennis shoes. Once established in the fashion footwear market they followed shortly afterwards in 1986 with their “deck shoes” and then in 1988 with their “walking shoes”.

Now with the latest explosion in the fashion trainer market the number of designer labels such as Armani, Diesel and Pierre Cardin, have also grown exponentially to an extent where there are now designer labels that only make fashion trainers with no connection to either the sports or fitness world at all. However, many sports companies having now seen the marketing potential  have now adopted these designer features into their own trainers moving the fashion elements back into the sports and fitness world.

Buying trainers can now get really confusing especially when you wade through all the different varieties now sold on the Internet or your local store. With so many different styles and types of trainers to choose from, making that right choice can take a lot of speculation. For a starting point you really need to decide what you need the new trainers for.

• If you’re just looking for a pair of trainers to wear with your casual jeans to over the weekend then you won’t be too concerned about the fit and comfort of the trainer.
• But if you’re looking for running shoes for sports then you’ll have to be more careful about what you’re buying.

If you’re an enthusiastic jogger you’ll need to make sure you have the right running shoes for your feet so that you don’t injure your bearing or your feet while you run. For tennis, you’ll need to have a trainer that’s completely unlike the running trainer recommended for jogging.
With so many diverse functions for sneakers and trainers it’s imperative that you to buy the right shoe for the right purpose.

Fashion trainers these days easily make up the vast majority of the entire trainer range. They  have now become so far most removed from their classical sports trainer ancestors in terms of look and function, they’re absolutely useless for any sport other than the dash from bar to dance floor – but that’s part of the appeal. With so many variations in these fashion trainers it has now become impossible today to give a definitive description of a generic fashion trainer, however with this vast variation in styles and type one will always find a fashion trainer to suit one’s inner personality and tastes. In our modern leisure lifestyle, designer trainers perfectly finish off today’s casual fashion look that is the mainstay of many of our wardrobes. By being very innovative in their designs and creations, they have often created the demand for a particular style where none previously existed and then by releasing a limited number of such styles, a customer can truly buy something exclusive and show them off to friends knowing full well that it is not ordinary shoes that can be bought by everybody.

An incomplete wardrobe without Ugg Boots

A celebrity’s wardrobe or a fashion freak’s wardrobe is incomplete without the UGG boots. The inner covering of the UGG boots is made from genuine sheep skin which gives the wearer a cozy and comfortable feel combined with explicit style and elegance.

UGG has managed to maintain its charm and magnetism over the years despite the fact that the sheep skinned boots are not considered as a pro fashion statement. UGG has still managed to be a hot favorite amongst most fashion stylists and designers. Fashion journalists believe UGG won’t be affected by any economic slump in the global market. The raw material which goes into styling these boots is sheep skin, which are pricey. But even here, it has stood tall under all circumstances in the fashion globe, maintaining its top position in the fashion industry.

Beats Economic Downturn

This unlikely sweetheart of the fashion world started activity in the Australia. UGG has had a strong presence in the Australian continent, but of late it has made its presence strongly felt in the UK. UGG was not welcomed warmly earlier by fashion houses since they had doubts on its practicality especially when it came to the chilly British weather. The fashion experts have defined UGG as recession proof. UGG has recorded a 130% increase in the sales inspite of the global recession. It is uniquely accepted amongst hi class fashion houses and celebrities. Inspite of the fact that owning a pair of UGG boots would mean a potful of money, one cannot term it as unaffordable. People who love shoes would still purchase them inspite of the downtrend in the business world.

Celebrities like Oprah Winfrey have rated UGG as her favorite discovery. Male celebrities like Brad Pitt have been ranked as UGG fans. UGG would not have even dreamt that it would attract so much of celebrity endorsements. UGG boots are specially designed for both the warm and cool climates. UGG boots ensure that your feet remain warm during the cooler months and impart a cooling effect in the summer months. UGG boots have expanded its color range other than its standard brown and offers colors like snow peak white, grey and shades of gold. They also offer the entire range of flip flops at attractive bargains.