Do We Still Need Shoe Laces?
Last year, “Sneakers: The Book” co-author Howie Kahn put me in contact with Fantastic Man Magazine’s Assistant Editor, Eliot Haworth to discuss the future of shoe laces.
Will technology eventually render the age-old method of fastening your sneakers with laces outdated and inefficient? Or will they always have a special part in the footwear world?
The Business Of Fashion recently posted an early, online exclusive of the article that will be featured in their 27th edition of Fantastic Man (hitting shelves in bookstores near you soon). Below you can read an exerpt of the in-depth article.
“The pursuit of new and fabulous alternatives to laces has long been an obsession of the trainer industry. Ever since the Reebok Pump was released in 1989, selling more than $1 billion worth of units and opening up a new market for novel fastenings (at that time limited to slip-on Vans and Velcro), there has been a constant stream of new gimmicks. Some have been successful: the Puma Disc (a dial system that fastens a series of wires) and the Reebok InstaPump Fury (a fully laceless version of the Pump) have been in continuous production since the 1990s. Others, like the Nike Kukini (a laceless slip-on fastened by a web of translucent rubber) and the Adidas HUG (featuring a fold-out lever-and-pulley system), were more like failed visions of the future.” – Eliot Haworth
For the full article, head here.
Photography by Anuschka Blommers Niels Schumm
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