Comments on: These shoes rule. These shoes suck.

These shoes rule. These shoes suck.

hermitosis — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 12:28:21 -0800

"You start with a 'bone': the made-to-measure core of the shoe that cradles your foot. You cover the bone with one of many 'skins,' the shell and sole of the shoe that creates the look everyone else sees."

By: fire&wings

fire&wings — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 12:34:51 -0800

Why would anyone wear hideous looking shoes?

By: blue_beetle

blue_beetle — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 12:36:20 -0800

The evolution of overshoes.

By: Red58

Red58 — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 12:37:12 -0800

there's so much screen flashiness its hard to actually learn anything about the shoes. Although it seems to have a lot to do with naked women and flimsy shoes.

By: box

box — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 12:37:20 -0800

If only I didn't already have a pair of shoes.

By: briank

briank — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 12:39:00 -0800

I have very hard feet to fit (small, wide, very high arch), so this has a lot of appeal for me conceptually. But they'll need to work on styling -- the men's shoes only had one style that wasn't a variation on "trainers".

By: googly

googly — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 12:49:17 -0800

ShoeBlue.

By: Thorzdad

Thorzdad — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 12:52:21 -0800

Hmmm... $60 for the "bone" and between $125 and $300 for skins? So, roughly $200 minimum for a pair of shoes? Not in my future, folks.

By: hermitosis

hermitosis — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 12:52:45 -0800

More designs. Mostly it's just an attempt to break shoes down into multiple parts that each cost more, I reckon.

By: Greg Nog

Greg Nog — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 12:52:46 -0800

This is a cool concept, but man, that is just an embarassingly bad website.

By: Citizen Premier

Citizen Premier — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 13:00:27 -0800

Dude, I have this great idea! What if instead of worrying about putting two things on your feet everyday, you could worry about three?

By: Faint of Butt

Faint of Butt — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 13:03:41 -0800

It's going to be the future by the time all that damn Flash is done loading.

By: andywolf

andywolf — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 13:04:05 -0800

can't find it now, but read an article awhile back about how shoes totally screw people up. from day one (according to the article) it creates a totally unnatural way to use our body. anyway, if i had the article that may be useful, but i don't so...

By: hermitosis

hermitosis — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 13:04:27 -0800

Four, if it's raining and you don't want your $150 fake loafers to get wet.

By: ardgedee

ardgedee — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 13:05:24 -0800

The designs don't actually look all that bad and the prices are within the range of high-design manufactured footwear. But despite all the muscular, well-toned bodies and outdoorsy imagery, I can't picture any of these shoes being good for any terrain more rugged than a shopping mall parking lot. They're strictly for people who sit down a lot, fashionably.

By: Pollomacho

Pollomacho — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 13:11:10 -0800

So essentially this is a $60 rigid Dr. Sholls?

By: Unicorn on the cob

Unicorn on the cob — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 13:19:13 -0800

Uh, I'm really short and the idea of wearing flats terrifies me. How am I supposed to reach the second shelf of everything in my house? Hell, how am I supposed to grocery shop in these things? Neat idea, customizable shoes. Call me back when they make a platform and stiletto version that look like Japanese robots made them.

By: badstone

badstone — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 13:21:47 -0800

lost me at the part where I click to enter the site and a full screen window pops up

By: oddman

oddman — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 13:52:21 -0800

I can't wait for this to go mainstream.

By: tepidmonkey

tepidmonkey — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 13:53:06 -0800

You cover the bone with one of many 'skins' I’ll hold out until we’re making actual feet this way.

By: Aversion Therapy

Aversion Therapy — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 13:54:43 -0800

I am clearly missing something. So these aren't Converse All-Stars?

By: loquacious

loquacious — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 14:00:46 -0800

IN THE FUTURE, THERE WON'T BE SHITTY ALL-FLASH PAGES THAT MAKE ME WANT TO STRANGLE THE ENTIRE FUCKING INTERNET. Also, those shoes look extra stupid. I can't imagine myself skateboarding in something like that. More than one piece = bad. Heck, good skateboard shoes even have stretchy webbing that bind the tongue to the footbed so it's extra snug, all around. Moreover, there's a reason why people wear different shoes. For starters, it keeps your feet from turning to goo.

By: Pater Aletheias

Pater Aletheias — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 14:17:03 -0800

ShoeBlue I would've gone with "Pepsi Shoe" myself.

By: C.Batt

C.Batt — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 14:17:39 -0800

Let me be the first: Pepsi Blue?

By: C.Batt

C.Batt — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 14:17:53 -0800

Fuck. Too slow.

By: buriednexttoyou

buriednexttoyou — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 14:25:11 -0800

"can't find it now, but read an article awhile back about how shoes totally screw people up." Was it this? Or perhaps this?

By: katillathehun

katillathehun — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 14:28:52 -0800

Uh, I'm really short and the idea of wearing flats terrifies me. How am I supposed to reach the second shelf of everything in my house? Hell, how am I supposed to grocery shop in these things? 1. Step stool 2. Ask for help (I'm short too. I just hate heels.)

By: PeterMcDermott

PeterMcDermott — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 14:36:06 -0800

You cover the bone with one of many 'skins' I'd rather go bareback, baby.

By: Ambrosia Voyeur

Ambrosia Voyeur — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 14:36:56 -0800

Does it come in a thigh-high PVC neon green vaccum closure boot with bluetooth, loadable bar-stamp rfid chip and goldfish bowl heel? No? Then it ain't from the future.

By: desuetude

desuetude — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 15:07:08 -0800

Wasn't there a NYTimes article on this guy not too long ago? Yep.

By: ranchocalamari

ranchocalamari — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 15:49:18 -0800

Just a couple of weeks ago I went to a Podiatrist and had custom orthotics made which helped my feet quite a bit. If this was being sold as a truly supportive custom made orthotic "bone" (god I hate that metaphor) I suppose it would be worth looking into. But if it's the same as store bought orthotics, it's about as custom as buying dime store reading glasses, i.e. good in a pinch but not really what the doctor ordered.

By: quin

quin — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 15:53:52 -0800

This is clearly not the future that I've been expecting. In that one, we will live in a wasteland and wear mismatched boots, which we have stolen from the punk biker we had to kill last week for a tank full of gasoline. In my future, people will tie bricks to their feet, just to keep them off of the scorched ground. Brick based shoe technology will also, naturally, be good for crushing the radioactive scorpions which plague our hellish existence. And they will still look better than the ones linked here.

By: klarck

klarck — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 16:12:24 -0800

I'd been lurking in some of the barefoot running forums and found out about this anti-shoe with a pretty recognizable brand.

By: amberglow

amberglow — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 16:13:07 -0800

these are ugly, but i need shoes that fit, for once in my life, if possible, without heel and tongue pads and assorted stuff--and i'd need the bone part to cover my ankles to really get them to fit right. And i still don't understand why shoes match in size and width per pair when feet don't always do so (and parts of feet too). They used to have a chain of stores that scanned your feet and built shoes to fit, so i tried it-- a few months later, they actually refunded my money and said they couldn't do it. : <

By: IndpMed

IndpMed — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 16:35:02 -0800

Thank you hermitosis for posting the additional styles link. You can see the quality of the skins more clearly. Admittedly, I've done a 180, going from ready to buy, to not going to try. Interesting idea though.

By: msconduct

msconduct — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 17:42:07 -0800

i love the idea of custom made shoes. back in my fashion slave days i wore 3+inch heels far too often and for too long a time. i also happen to be a big fan of ugly shoes, starting with the earth shoe and moon boots. these skins look positively beautiful compared to those. i tried sole suckers but they were only good for limited wear before the stickum unstuck. klarck, i definitely see those anti-shoes in my future.

By: rxrfrx

rxrfrx — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 18:33:16 -0800

MetaFilter: $60 for the bone

By: Joseph Gurl

Joseph Gurl — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 18:33:19 -0800

Failed business plan #367

By: Slap*Happy

Slap*Happy — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 19:40:44 -0800

Might be handy for those of us on the wide-side of what's available at Hitchcock Shoe. My shoe size is 8-1/2 EEEEEE, 9 EEEEEE, 9 EEEEE, or 9-1/2 EEEEE, depending on manufacturer and model. I now live within driving distance of their showroom, so I don't have to worry about figuring out which shoes fit in which sizes mail order, but it was damn inconvenient when I was living in Florida. A two-part shoe, that's guaranteed to fit no matter which style I chose, is tempting and worth the hassle of pairing the skin with the bone in the morning.

By: pax digita

pax digita — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 23:12:43 -0800

I'm wearing orthotic inserts these days, so as soon as I get any shoes or boots, the sockliner goes right in the trash. So there's not much point in buying these things, as far as I can tell.

By: BrotherCaine

BrotherCaine — Thu, 18 Oct 2007 00:11:40 -0800

For some perspective, I talked to an actual old-school cobbler who makes custom dress shoes. The first pair was $5000. He makes an impression of your feet, hand carves wooden lasts slightly larger than the impression, and then makes the shoes around the lasts. Subsequent shoes are a lot cheaper than $5000, but still ridiculously expensive.

By: Enron Hubbard

Enron Hubbard — Thu, 18 Oct 2007 05:20:42 -0800

Neat idea, customizable shoes. Call me back when they make a platform and stiletto version that look like Japanese robots made them. Shoes of the future will be custom created for you by your personal rapid prototyping machine, like all the other daily crap people will use. Buying stuff is so 20th century...

By: Pollomacho

Pollomacho — Thu, 18 Oct 2007 05:30:01 -0800

Might be handy for those of us on the wide-side of what's available at Hitchcock Shoe. My shoe size is 8-1/2 EEEEEE, 9 EEEEEE, 9 EEEEE, or 9-1/2 EEEEE, depending on manufacturer and model For some reason after reading this I couldn't get this scene out of my head: Interior Hitchcock Shoes. Customer sits with his back to the curtain covering the door to the back room. Salesman pops out from back room. Salesman: OK, here's your shoes. (making a stabbing motion at the customer's back with a large men's loafer) You said size nine E-E-E-E-E-E (Psycho shower scene music swells to match strokes of shoe). Cut to shot of floor where crumpled shoe stuffing paper begins to fall. And......scene.

By: any major dude

any major dude — Thu, 18 Oct 2007 05:45:48 -0800

I guess flash is easy for web designers to sell but doing a whole site in flash is such a disservice to the customer. Flash should be used for demos only.

By: Uther Bentrazor

Uther Bentrazor — Thu, 18 Oct 2007 06:45:29 -0800

These seem kinda flimsy and overpriced. Then again, outside of the gym/running, i generally wear these, so maybe I'm not the one to ask.

By: Ambrosia Voyeur

Ambrosia Voyeur — Thu, 18 Oct 2007 09:30:49 -0800

Hey Uther, how long do those last? I need to replace my pair of these, which lasted about 8 years of heavy use, and I can go gothier, but I don't want crap.

By: mhh5

mhh5 — Fri, 19 Oct 2007 00:33:58 -0800

I'm still not sure if I understand how the "skins" work? So you have a custom "bone" that fits your foot.... but the "skins" are elastic so that they're one-size-fits-all? That sounds really yucky... but sorta cool... if you rented them as bowling shoes, maybe.