Category:
Shoes
Shoes
Concrete Heels
From designer Mel Diosa.Don't wear them while swimming.
Posted By: Alex - Fri Feb 18, 2022 -
Comments (6)
Category: Shoes
Double-Heeled Shoe
Patent No. 7,574,819, granted to Jin Rie of Los Angeles:A high heel for women is provided. The high heels according to the current invention have at least two tall heels fixed to rear end of the bottom of sole of the shoes... The multi heeled high heels according to current invention reduces dislocation of wearer's ankle though the heels are narrow and long.
But why stop at two heels when you could have seven?
'Cleat Heels' from Jean Paul Gaultier's Spring 1993 collection
Posted By: Alex - Tue Nov 16, 2021 -
Comments (3)
Category: Patents, Shoes
Nail Heel Boots
Footwear from Maison Margiela. Fall 2008. Looks like they're no longer available for purchase. But if they were, they'd cost you $1490.
via Tapireye
Posted By: Alex - Thu Oct 14, 2021 -
Comments (2)
Category: Shoes
Wrinkle Chaser
Unusual job: A wrinkle chaser uses a hot-air jet to 'chase' wrinkles out of leather boots and shoes. This is done using a wrinkle chaser machine.
Tacoma News Tribune - Jan 6, 1957
Posted By: Alex - Sun Aug 15, 2021 -
Comments (1)
Category: Jobs and Occupations, Shoes
Double-Sided Cowboy Boots
From fashion label Hood by Air. Introduced in 2016. Not sure if it's still possible to buy them anywhere.
source: footwearnews.com
source: i-d.vice.com
Posted By: Alex - Mon Aug 09, 2021 -
Comments (6)
Category: Shoes
Urine-Collecting Shoe
Problem: you're out in public and really need to go to the bathroom, but there are no toilets around.Solution: the urine-collecting shoe, patented by Ran Rahimzada in 2008.
As described in his patent:
An embarrassing situation may arise, when people sometimes need to urinate and there may not be toilets readily available, for example when a person is driving a car on a highway, while touring a city with not public toilets readily accessible, while traveling in a bus, etc...
According to the present invention, a new shoe includes a container to store a person's urine. The person may use a standard catheter, which is connected to the container in the shoe.
This is an unobtrusive device, there is no bag attached to one's foot, etc. The device may be used discreetly, without attracting undue attention.
According to the present invention, a new shoe includes a container to store a person's urine. The person may use a standard catheter, which is connected to the container in the shoe.
This is an unobtrusive device, there is no bag attached to one's foot, etc. The device may be used discreetly, without attracting undue attention.
Posted By: Alex - Sun May 30, 2021 -
Comments (1)
Category: Inventions, Patents, Body Fluids, Shoes
The Coward Shoe
In 1866, cobbler James S. Coward opened a store in New York City. He named it after himself, and he referred to the shoes he sold as "Coward shoes".Despite the odd name, his business did extremely well. In fact, it endured almost to the present. As of 2014, the company had both a twitter and facebook page. But their website now redirects to Old Pueblo Traders whom, I'm guessing, must have acquired them.
The Keyport Weekly - Apr 23, 1892
Boston Globe - Sep 20, 1927
Posted By: Alex - Wed Nov 25, 2020 -
Comments (4)
Category: Odd Names, Shoes
The drift pattern of Nike shoes
In May 1990, five shipping containers holding approximately 80,000 pairs of Nike shoes fell off a freighter during a storm in the North Pacific. About 200 days later, some of these shoes began to wash up on beaches from Canada down to Oregon.But as beachcombers collected and compared the shoes, they noticed something odd. On beaches up north, in Canada and Washington, almost all the shoes were right-footed; whereas further south in Oregon, most of the shoes were left-footed.
Skye Moody explains why this was so in her book Washed Up: The Curious Journeys of Flotsam and Jetsam:
The slight toe curvature of left- and right-footed shoes caused the right-footed shoes to tack northeastward into the Alaska Current, passing the Queen Charlottes along the way, where many beached. Meanwhile, the left-footed Nikes tacked snugly into the southeast-bound California Current, and as it passed Oregon, were caught on an incoming tide.
Drift pattern of Nike shoes
image source: The Nike Shoe Investigation
Oceanographer Curtis Ebbesmeyer co-authored an academic paper about the 1990 shoe spill ("Shoe spill in the North Pacific" -- unfortunately behind a paywall). It also inspired him to start studying other ocean flotsam, such as rubber duckies, as a way to gain info about currents. He calls this study 'flotsametrics'. He also occasionally puts out a Beachcombers' Alert Newsletter.
Posted By: Alex - Tue Jun 16, 2020 -
Comments (0)
Category: Science, Shoes, 1990s
Social Distancing Shoes
Created by Romanian shoemaker Grigore Lup. More info from footwearnews.com:According to Lup, when two persons are wearing the shoes and facing each other, there will be 1.5 meters (about 5 feet) of distance between them. Each pair uses one square meter of leather — they can be fabricated in a number of colorways, with either rubber or leather soles — and it takes Lup two days to craft each style. On his website, he charges a minimum of 500 lei, or roughly $115, per pair, with prices going up for extra-long styles.
Posted By: Alex - Fri Jun 05, 2020 -
Comments (8)
Category: Shoes
Shoe Gongs
Anthony Faranda of Yonkers, NY worried that children didn't like wearing rubber-soled shoes because they made no noise when walking on a pavement. So, he invented a shoe gong. Or, as he called it, a "footwear actuated noise maker." He patented it in 1957.It was a disc and clapper that could be worn over shoes. He explained: "The arrangement is such that upon normal walking steps or running strides the clapper is activated to make noise and thereby promote the interest of children in wearing shoes with soles that do not make an audible sound in engaging firm or rigid surfaces."
Maybe kids would have liked these, but not, I imagine, their parents.
He assigned the patent to the NY advertising agency McCann-Erickson. It's unclear what plans they might have had for these things.
Posted By: Alex - Sun Feb 16, 2020 -
Comments (2)
Category: Inventions, Patents, Shoes, 1950s
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| Alex Boese Alex is the creator and curator of the Museum of Hoaxes. He's also the author of various weird, non-fiction, science-themed books such as Elephants on Acid and Psychedelic Apes. Paul Di Filippo Paul has been paid to put weird ideas into fictional form for over thirty years, in his career as a noted science fiction writer. He has recently begun blogging on many curious topics with three fellow writers at The Inferior 4+1. Contact Us |