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Wow, what a journey I have been through with this project. And I have to thank you all for coming along with me. I have to say that this project was a sucess when I walked past my shoe donation box in the entry way of my dorm (Putnam) I saw about 20 pairs in my box. I am really amazed at the response I am getting. Now I have to work up enough courage to do another one on a larger scale in the union. I also have not purchased any form of footwear throughout this entire project. (My friend bought me a pair of flip-flops to match with our togas on friday–but that doesn’t count in my book.) I haven’t purchased a pair of baby shoes for my niece that was born on Feb. 8th. I feel I have neglected her. But I’ll limit myself to two pairs every other month for her, it hurts to not be back home to watch her grow-up, but I promise to not use shoes to make up for lost time. And her mother, my sister, will put on her shoe drive in conjunction with mine next semester at KCKCC. I can’t wait to sort the shoes. Also the 1st time I ever recycled took place last Wednesday, and I saw that Howie’s takes old shoes. I really enjoyed this project and I will close it out with a couple of economic facts about the U.S. and International Market for shoes.
*In 1996 Wage for shoe producttion were $7 an hour in West Europe and .30 in China
*Nike the first to outsource in the 1980′s
*Reebok at one point dealt in 60% of outsourcing in production.
*China outputs 4,500 million pairs that represents one in every three pairs of shoes produced in the world.
*Vietnam over 200 million a year, i.e. Nike
*South Korea avg. mounthy wage rate in “96″ was $792
*Vietnam’s was $45
*Nike now constitutes over 5% of total Vietnam exports.
*Nike employs over 90,000 workers.
*Brazil export performance is 90%.
*China produces over 4.5 billion pairs of shoes a year and exports over 2.6 billion pairs (mainly to the U.S.)
I have to do more research to find who buys more statistic wise men or women, so I’ll have more to tell about during presentations. Thanks to everyone for reading and for your comments.Keep saving the world in your own unique way.
So I am very excited to let everyone know that my program was last night at my dorm. Only had 5 people in attendance but it gave me an opportunity to present all my research and share a little about my quest to progress from a consumer to an avid evangelist to the conservation of the environment. I already have 8 pairs of shoes in my Sole 4 Souls donation box. I feel like I’m on a cloud I feel I have taken the necessary steps to make a change in my personal life as well as influence others to look into their closets and help out in their way. I also am very excited that I will already have everything ready for my poster presentation as well as had the opportunity to be critiqued by my brother while presenting to an actual audience. This experience has been amazing. I never thought I would have the courage to do something to potentially change the world. Look for a larger shoe drive soon in the Union I think I will be backed a group called MANNRS.Shoes, Shoes, Shoes, Save, Save, Save the world. I also have had a few people fill out the surveys I prepared to gain an assesment of people’s fascination with shoes. It was funny that when asked if the generalization of women in society as “having too many shoes was fair or unfair”? To my surprise many women accepted this generalization, while a couple refuted it by saying there are men who have a lot of shoes, and even one girl admitted that she wore high heels to be noticed by men.Stay tuned next week for the results of my surveys and more research about “My Passion” that is slowly subsiding.
My blog part 2. I will hold off again on the other research and the shoe drive for next week to discuss the cultural side of shoes.The first area of interest came from ancient China stemming back the Sung dynasty (960-1279)A.D. and before that the Shang Dynasty(1700-1027)B.C. to end after being legally abolished in the 1930′s. This practice began for 3 possible reasons.The first to take on an animal characteristic of a fox who disquised itself as a Shang Empress and tried to hide its paws in a tiny shoe.2nd claimed that an Empress was club-footed and asked that all the girls in the land should suffer foot-binding in an attempt to make her feet a model for beauty.3rdly,A Sung dynasty prince named Li Yu had a fetish for tiny feet and made his concubine dance a variation of ballet called the “toe dance” which he thought was very beautiful. This practice was gradually associated with marriage and status. This was a means for many women to get married ultimate submission where can the women go with their feet in such conditions? Girls would start this process between the ages of 3 and eleven years old by their mothers in hopes for them to be married off one day. The foot should be no more than 3 inches long. The cleft between the heel and the sole should be 2-3 inches deep and the foot should appear as an extension of the leg not as a stand for the body. Health problems spurred form everything to loss of bone density in the spine and hips, to impeded blood circulation, gangrene,toes falling off, toenails growing into the skin, voluntary lacerations and soaking in animal blood and minerals made skin fall off.Honestly I almost began to cry as I read what these women had to go through.www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2A1155872 Estimated that 4.5 million went through these practices in the last 1 thousand years.
I even came across a book today about men and their shoe and fetishes in the Western Cultures.In the book Beauty and Misogyny:Harmful Cultural Practices in the West.By Shelia Jeffreys.It was really interesting and sort or wierd to hear men speak about women wearing high-heels. One man said that the way a women walks in heels instantly turn him on. Referring to the way women’s hips sway when they walk.When actually you have to use your lower body to stay on balance and try to take wait off of certain points of your feet to gain relief while strolling about it ridiculous shoes.I also found an interesting point in the book that men prefer the off-balance walk instead of flats which illustrates to them “that she has two feet firmly planted on the ground”.The men discussed that there were 4 types of shoes in their eyes; sexy, sexless, nueter, and bisexual. Sexy:heels that make the foot look smaller,the arch and the instep curvier, the leg longer and shaplier, the hips-buttocks wigglier.”Sexless: representative of the hatred of “sensible” shoes in a male dominant world.Flats, running/walking shoes etc.Please check out this book and find more information on the topic.Don’t want to be too long.Thanks for reading.
This is the Blackspot shoe.Ethnically produced materials.Fair labour. Eco-friendly production techniques. Use of organic hemp. Vegetarian rubber.Toecap 70% biodegradable.Manufactured in a unionised factory in Portugal.”Promotes ethics over profit, values over image, and idealism over hype”.
This is the first of two blogs I want to post this week the first will be answers to questions and feedback left by all of you.The second will be data and research. Peacenik brought to my attention “No Logo” shoes.They were started by AdBusters, the “Antipreneurs”. The shoe represents a “grass-root effort to reform consumerism and the corporate structure at large.” The production of these shoes entail the use of ethically produced materials, fair labour and eco-friendly production techniques. The shoe features organic hemp and vegetarian rubber and a toecap that is 70% biodegradable and is manufactured in a unionised factory in Portugal. The motto for this company and goal of taking big companies head on is to;” promote ehtics over profit, values over image and idealism over hype.” Also when you purchase a pair of Blackspot sneakers you automatically become a shareholder in Blackspot anti-corporation and even recieve the power to vote in the company. www.youthxchange.net
hika45 “No sweat” I even found a website that sells and promotes only clothing and other goods that were produced in union working factories committed to the well-being of it employees. htt://nosweatapparel.com
frvgtb :New Balance Shoe Line” I checked this shoe line out and you were right they are Vegan! I also came across a really cool website that had every shoe possible form vegan to vegatarian to ecolution it was very interesting to find all of these options for better footwear. It’s also really funny to me how New Balance shoes went from Pay-less shoe stores to becoming a mainstream corporation and charging $70 to $100 for a pair of shoes i have to do more research to see if they were always vegan. The website is http://www.thevegetariansite.com this one can be added to the great list you gave me for websites about vegan shoes ts6170.imhummin:you mentioned the shooing aways of animals or pets. Well when I did some research over this I found to things that I can tie back in with class. The first thing I came across was a website call Shoeaholicanonymous.com and the Shoo-Away was a product created to minimize the space that your enormous shoe collection takes up. So it is helping people to save room by loading their shoes on to a rack instead of stop buying them after they begin to run out of space. (Consumerism) The next article I found was one that was telling the story of a mother who was passing in her car under a bridge where she saw a bunch of spray painted murals on the wall. She wanted to take a picture of her son against the wall but before she did, she says “I HAD TO SHOO AWAY ALL THE HOMELESS PEOPLE AWAY JUST TO GET THE PICTURE”.The idea of non human others comes into play.
So I am very excited to report that I have recieved a literature packett from Soles4Souls Inc. and also very excited to report that my program for the shoe drive at my dorm is currently waitng to be approved to go on at my dorm, hopefully on Tuesday March 11th. This company takes all kinds of shoes for victims of natural disasters (Hurricane Katrina), people living in abject poverty (refugee camps in Uganda), or those in need of a chance for newness of life (such as women living in shelters who have escaped domestic violence and need professional work shoes for interviews). I have also completed my surveys that I hope to gain data from at least a 100 girls or women about the “consumption prowl” on shoes and society’s view of woman and shoes.
Also while I was doing research on shoe production to my surprise many books and articles came up about countries other than that of Japan, China or India. I was surprised to such places as Australia (Uggs), Austria, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, China, Cuba, France, Germany, Great Britain, Hungary, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Massachusetts, New Engalnd, New Zealan, Peru, The Philippines, Puerto Rico, Switzerland and Vietnam. I even found a book that was “solely” dedicated to bringing to the surface the usage of women labor in shoe production factories in Mexico. However, the library can not retrieve the book for me at this time. But I will provide that information as soon as I can. The title of the book is: Forms of production and women’s labour: gender aspects of industrialization in India and Mexico, by I.S.A Baud. I also checked out government publications which has recorded spending accounts of footwear of men, women, and children from 1965-1991. As soon as I can accurately cipher through all the numbers I can give you an accurate account of which gender has actually spent the most over the years. I also took a look at the chemicals that go into the construction of shoes. I read that there are 40 toxins in one shoe and that many are unknown. Many chemicals pollute the air while our beloved shoes are being made such as the following; dioxin, volatile organic compounds, solvents, chronium, hide waste effluent, and isocyanates. Synthetic shoe on the other hand do not use chronium and hide waste effkuent which would lessen the use of animal hides. But the other option is vinyl which creates the production of dioxin an air pollutant. An interesting fact is the afforementioned chemical isocyanates when reacting to an enzyme or anything to set a reaction to it can be harmful to living tissue, cause asthma-through inhalation, exposure and dermal contact. (contact through the skin)
Also another area of research I thought was interesting was an author saying “you have to control your inner imelda” I thought that they had actually diagnosed buying shoes as a real addiction so I looked it up to if I had it. My research led me to one of the most powerful women (at one point in history) Imelda Marcos. She is the widow to Ferdinand Marcos president of the Philippines, a very powerful and influential first-lady and political figure. Her reign is not what she is most noted for but rather her expensive and extensive shopping sprees. Anything you could dream of, she bought it. From shoes, to gowns, jewelry, million dollar buildings (Crown Building and Herald Centre), artwork by Michelangelo, Botticelli, Canaletto, and stopped at the empire state building because they wanted to charge her 750 million. Just a little tidbit I wanted to throw in. Sorry I know this was long but I had so much I wanted tell about.
1. The upper is pieced together from leather and synthetic leather waste from the factory floor using zig-zag stitching.
2. The mid-sole uses scrap-ground foam from factory production.
3. The outsole uses environmentally-preferred rubber that reduces toxics and incorporates Nike Grind material from footwear-outsole manufacturing waste.
4. The Phoenix Suns’ colorways will have shoe laces and sockliners that use “environmentally preferred” (we’re not clear what that means) materials, and will be packaged in a fully recycled cardboard shoe box.
2. The mid-sole uses scrap-ground foam from factory production.
3. The outsole uses environmentally-preferred rubber that reduces toxics and incorporates Nike Grind material from footwear-outsole manufacturing waste.
4. The Phoenix Suns’ colorways will have shoe laces and sockliners that use “environmentally preferred” (we’re not clear what that means) materials, and will be packaged in a fully recycled cardboard shoe box.
I have a couple important things to report about the progress of my project. I’m excited to let everyone know that I have found a group on the internet called soles for soles who help communtiy advocates set up shoe drives for donations of gently used or new shoes. This company was very huge in getting Hurrican Katrina victims shoes I have to post the link for their website after I learn how to do that. Anyway they were also in cohoots with that basketball coach his name slips my mind right now that would coach his team bare-footed and would ask of his teams fans to not wear shoes to the game in his efforts to send 40,000 new pairs of shoes around the world. In my efforts for the shoe drive I am waiting for three media-program packets from Soles for Souls one for myself to put on a program at my dorm and in the union with the help of some of the sororities around campus women of all groups will help out, as well give one to my sister to do a shoe drive at KCKCC and also one for my mom to take to work at the U.S. Post Office in Missouri.
Also I was very surprised to see during this weekends NBA All-Star festivities that Suns star point gaurd Steve Nash was wearing a new Nike shoe called the “Trash-talks” the shoes is apparently composed of all recycled materials from leathers, to plastics, to the threads. I also have to later post the research on all the wasted resources that go into producing shoes, so it was really funny to see that Nike made this shoe. “Maybe all shoes should be made of recycled materials.” Also I have to begin to create my surveys and get this shoe drive into motion. Also I want to discuss the origin of the high heel shoes or stiletos and societies belief that women are obssesed with shoes. Most of my information comes from the book Fashion, Costume, and Culture. 1946-2003. In the book it says that the stiletto heel was born in the early 1950′s, and they could be as tall or as four or five inches, and its point as small as three-eights of an inch in diameter. It later goes on to state that stileto was not at all practical. A man named Roger Vivier created them of course a man would who does not know what it feels like to wear them. ha! ha! But on the serious side many Podiatrists warned that they could cause serious damage to tendons, experience back pain, or have bone deformities. This is all really real for me as I have an aunt who can not touch her toes anymore because of wearing heels all her life. Her body now is sort of off-balance.
Its also funny how the doll Barbie’s feet are shaped perfectly to fit in a heel just a little something to think about. Is is women themselves or the media telling them that they need shoes? Stay tuned for next week’s blogs where I will discuss the economic, cultural and environmental aspects of shoe production.
While going over the three options we had in the instructions for blogging I chose the second of the three to complete my project: What one person can do. It’s really funny to me that I am known amongst friends and family as the “queen of kicks” and now I’m hanging them up to better socitey and the world around us.
Problem: “Too many shoes are purchased and sold in the U.S. and the abundance of shoes we have represent our consumer passion”. For myself the problem with buying shoes was done in efforts to gain a certain gratification of being validated by people looking in that I can afford to have nice things. This is probably the same problem that others face along with the aesthetic appeal of them. Also the idealistic views of women by men around the world that women are “oh so sexy” in a pair of stilletos or red pumps (every man’s dream). Also in other countries there are places where women only wear certain kinds or sizes of shoes in which their feet are bound in efforts to remain beautiful almost crippling them so they can wear tiny sizes. Just think ladies how many really love high heels while every woman’s hand is in the air please raise your hand and let everyone know who loves the way their feet feel after spending a day or night in a pair. A long with the ideal for the outside appearance of women I will illustrate the problems that consumerism brings to the eniviornment around us as well as finding a small part of the solution in the active role that I will take in “Kicking Consumerism to the Curb” I will show step-by-steps the necessary changes I have to make personally, locally, and nationally through following six areas of life.
1. Personal: Keep a cycle of about 5 pairs of tenniss shoes. Orange, Blue, Black, White and Brown. So every time I buy a new pair I must recycle the pair I had previously of that same color no matter how long or short of a period of time I have had them and if I do not want to give up the old pair then I can buy the new one.
2. Economic: Find exact figures, statistics about the consumer market in the realm of footwear. Look at the amount of natural resources that go into the production of shoes, unfit working conditions, child labour, outsourcing, and the overall margin of gain in the shoe business.
3. Knowledge: Find out if shoes can be recycled. If so what parts can be recycled? Who else in the world recycles shoes? And what are the benefits or problems with recycling or donating footwear?
4. Cultural: Illustrate the link between women and shoes. Why do women typically have shoes and where does the idea that women love diamonds, chocolate, or flowers as much as they love shoes. And look at other cultures that obsess over women’s feet and shoes or footwear around the world. Also look at the obsession of the high heel and when and where it started.
5. Activist: Set up a shoe drive here at school for gently used and new shoes for donation. Also link what I am doing here to Kansas City Kansas Community College back home with a collective shoe drive which my sister will head. Also I can look into gettin Sororities around campus to help in organizing the shoe drive.
6. Community: What I hope will be the result of this project is the opportunity to host a shoe drop-off and shoe pick-up at my church back home in Kansas City. This will give students K-12 an opprtunity to stop by and pick out a new pair (of shoes) for thier first day of school.
