Are your shoes too old?
March 7, 2011 Filed under Dionysus
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http://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/fashion/are-your-shoes-too-old-20110307-1bk7t.html
Fix or trash ... wearing shoes past their prime can be a health hazard.
From the faithful running shoe to the whimsical sandal, from the sensible work loafer to the sexy stiletto, all shoes reach a point at which they have outlived their usefulness, and we must let them go.
Our time together may seem fleeting but we hang onto favorites past their prime at our peril.
“The shoe wears out in the area where we overload it, so the part where you need the most support isn’t there,” said Minneapolis podiatrist Paul Langer, clinical professor at the University of Minnesota. “A worn shoe can exaggerate the biomechanical faults you already have.”
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A loss of support and cushioning can cause shin splints, Achilles tendinitis, knee pain and plantar fasciitis, a common form of heel pain. As a shoe’s sole and heel wear down unevenly, the likelihood of twisting an ankle increases. In severe cases, old shoes can cause stress fractures, Langer said.
Unfortunately, there’s no clear expiry date for a shoe, whose lifespan depends on the quality of construction, how well you take care of it and where and how often you wear it. But there are some guidelines for determining when it’s time for your shoes to pass on. The following guide to shoe death draws from the advice of Langer, author of Great Feet for Life: Footcare and Footwear for Healthy Ageing”; Karen Langone, president of the American Academy of Podiatric Sports Medicine; and cobbler Randy Lipson, owner of Cobblestone Shoe Repair in St Louis.
ATHLETIC SHOES
The cushioning on these wears down fastest because they suffer from fast starts, stops and changes in direction, plus more pressure than walking shoes, Langer said. When you run, the pressure you put on the shoe is two or three times your body weight. When you land from jumps in sports such as basketball or volleyball, the pressure is seven to eight times your body weight.
As a general rule, the life of a running shoe is 300 to 500 miles, Langer said, though it varies with your body weight, gait and surface on which you run. Following that rule, someone who runs six kilometers, four times a week should consider replacing shoes after about six months, while a more casual athlete could wait a year. Running shoes typically can’t be repaired.
One way to check if running shoes need to be replaced is to look at the midsole, which is the foam part of the shoe between the outer sole (the bottom of the shoe, where the treads are) and the upper (the top of the shoe, where the laces are). When it starts to wrinkle deeply, the shoe is losing its cushioning and getting worn out. The midsole warps with heat, sun exposure and moisture, so if you run somewhere damp, it breaks down faster.
CASUAL WORK OR WALKING SHOES
As a rule of thumb, Langone said, if you wear a pair of shoes to work three to four times a week, after a year or so they’ll either need fixing or trashing. You know it’s time to repair or replace when you have scuffed heels or flat spots on the outer sole, or when the back edge of the heel gets so worn that it’s angling sharply, Langone said. Another sign is when inside pieces of the shoe poke through, like a nails showing in the heel. One test is to set the shoes on a flat surface and look at them from behind, Langone said. If they tilt to the side, it’s time to fix or toss.
LEATHER DRESS SHOES
If you buy good quality shoes and take good care of them, re-soling and re-heeling when necessary, they could last five to 15 years, Lipson said. Whether repairing is worth the cost depends on how much you paid for the shoes in the first place, as high-quality leather resoling runs $35 to $45. If they’re inexpensive shoes, it’s probably smarter to just buy new ones. (The leather sole needs replacing if when you put your thumb in the center of the outer sole at the ball of the foot, the leather feels soft instead of firm.) A component to keep an eye on is the leather on the upper part of the shoe, which can get stiff if not regularly cleaned, polished and conditioned, Lipson said. Once it hardens, the leather can crack where the shoe bends, and there’s nothing you can do about that. In addition, these shoes can suffer damage to the toe box, the cardboard frame at the toe of the shoe, such as indentations from kicking or being stepped on. That’s too costly to fix, Lipson said, so it’s time to toss.
HIGH HEELS
Because the heels are narrower and the soles are usually thinner, high heels wear down faster than flatter shoes, Lipson said. The most wear happens near the toe on the bottom of the shoe, because that’s the area that bears the most weight. If the thickness of the sole has worn down by half, it’s time to resole or replace.
The heel also wears down quickly, so as soon as you start to see the nail poke through, get new heel lifts. High-quality heel lifts can last twice as long as the originals from the manufacturer, Lipson said.
SANDALS, THONGS
The upper part of a sandal bears a lot of stress to keep the foot in place, making for a shorter life than enclosed shoes, Langone said. Stretched or broken straps mean it’s time to replace or, if they’re very expensive shoes, repair.
The same heel and sole issues apply to sandals as other shoes. So if those thongs are starting to look like lopsided pancakes, time for a new pair.
MCT
Shanzhai Saturday: Inside a Putian Shoe Factory
August 23, 2010 Filed under Yu Shanshan
Shanzhai (山寨): Chinese imitation and pirated brands and goods, particularly electronics.
Real vs. Fake Nikes (Image from NYT)
This week’s column will be slightly less fun and entertaining and a bit more on the serious side of IP infringement and enforcement. For anyone interested in the world of China IP, instead of reading about the latest outrageous fake product, your time will be better spent simply reading “Inside the Knockoff-Tennis-Shoe Factory” by Nicholas Schmidle in the New York Times Magazine. The article does not particularly break any new ground or anything; it is not news, but a lengthy summary of the China IP situation. It’s one of those things that people tell you to read if you don’t have the time or inclination to read anything else on the topic, and I mean that as a compliment.
Schmidle takes a shoe factory in Putian as his concrete example and then uses that as a platform to discuss the IP problem in China generally, using quotes from several of the heavy hitters on the China IP scene, including Mark Cohen (used to be head of IP with the U.S. embassy in Beijing, now with the U.S. law firm Jones Day) and Joe Simon (Baker & Mackenzie law firm). Again, nothing startling in what Mark or Joe have to say, but the fact that Schmidle found his way to them tells me that he talked to the right (foreign) people while he was doing his research.
One thing you will not find in the article is advice on how to fix the problem. This is actually a point in its favor, since the only people that have a quick “solution” to the IP problem are charlatans and hucksters (i.e. lawyers, investigators and consultants) looking to drum up business. Schmidle instead explains what some of the problems are, letting his readers understand that solutions will be difficult and long-term.
For example, Schmidle uses a quote from the Putian factory owner, named Lin, who explains that years ago, it was relatively easy to get prototypes and new product information from legitimate factories, allowing shanzhai manufacturers to produce even more quickly sometimes than the IP owners. These days, security measures have put an end to that sort of thing:
“There’s no way to get inside anymore,” Lin told me, describing the enhanced security measures at the licensed factories: guards, cameras and secondary outer walls. “Now we just go to a shop that sells the real shoes, buy a pair from the store and duplicate them.”
Good news/bad news, though. Maybe they’re not as fast as before, but reverse engineering a shoe purchased legally is not only easy, but the practice is impossible to stop. The point here is that even with pretty good IP laws (seriously) and a lot of enforcement activities, it is still extremely difficult for China to put an end to this sort of thing.
In his description of the business model of the Putian factory, Schmidle also educates his reader on just how difficult it can be to catch some of these producers. Consider that many of them now manufacture fakes on a per order basis, shipping product out immediately as opposed to leaving counterfeits sitting around in their warehouse and subject to raids by the Administration of Industry and Commerce. Moreover, even when sting operations result in catching them with shanzhai product, lots of other factories are waiting in the wings to pick up the slack on the supply side.
I have a feeling that Schmidle’s article will be widely read and perhaps even used by the usual industry folks in their perpetual mau-mau lobbying campaign in places like Washington, D.C. for more vigorous bilateral negotiations with China. I know it’s asking too much of them, but it would be nice for those folks to pick up on a couple of subtle points:
1. The NYT article is to some extent limited in scope and should not be used to generalize about all kinds of IP infringement and enforcement in China. Consider these statistics:
In the last fiscal year, U.S. Customs and Border Protection seized more than $260 million worth of counterfeit goods. The goods included counterfeit Snuggies, DVDs, brake pads, computer parts and baby formula. But for four years, counterfeit footwear has topped the seizure list of the customs service; in the last fiscal year it accounted for nearly 40 percent of total seizures. (Electronics made up the second-largest share in that year, with about 12 percent of the total.)
Yes, you can find a dizzying variety of fake stuff here, but the big numbers are from big brand consumer items like shoes as well as electronics (add those together, and you have over 50% share of fakes seized by the U.S.). I wonder what those numbers would look like if you also added in digital media piracy?
The point is that you have a few industries that are being hit the hardest, and while almost everyone has IP issues with China these days, not everyone is having their market share savaged by Chinese pirates. There’s a reason why Schmidle went to a shoe factory.
2. This is really a story about global counterfeiting, not about China IP problems. It’s easy to look at China as the source of the IP infringement epidemic. After all, the products are being made here. Consider, though, that everything is produced in China these days; why should fakes be any different?
In other words, if I’m an international distributor of counterfeit products, where am I going to go to find experienced factories capable of making quality fakes? Of course the answer is China. These transactions involve China producers, and distributors and purchasers from all over the world – they all use the Net of course to handle purchase and sale details.
This explains why the FBI, and others, have stepped up international cooperation strategies in recent years. It also suggests that in ten years, after a lot of the low-end manufacturers have completed their moves from China to Vietnam, Bangladesh, and Alabama, we will start to see ramped up counterfeiting from those areas.
Just a guess. Maybe 20 years from now, you will have investigative reporters from China Daily writing stories about corrupt government officials from towns in Mississippi who protect the local shanzhai shoe factories. I imagine the quotes will include “But the factory is the town’s largest employer and taxpayer. And besides, the fakes are just being exported to China anyway. No harm, no foul.”
Shed the shoes for a better run
February 11, 2010 Filed under Health
By Li Zhixin
Runners and athletes are always searching for the next great shoes to improve performance and reduce injuries, but a new study says shoes are the problem.
The solution? Run without them. Many who conducted the study believe running barefoot can change a runner’s form and body mechanics to prevent some common athletic injuries.
Leather leads the way – Affordable classic Oxford and brogue shoes
January 20, 2010 Filed under Shopping
By Wang Yu
This winter, the oxford snatched the title “shoes of the season” from canvas Converse sneakers and Dr. Martens. The oxfords, and their nearelative brogues, are a modern fashion classic that can set you apart from crowds similarly clad in double-breasted coats.
The shoes’ price tag may cramp your style – if you don’t know where to look. What g for thousands of yuan in department stores is available for only hundreds online, courtesy of Chinese craftsmen and forward-looking young entrepreneurs.
Photos provided by Beautiful Youth
Feet mates: Shoes for running, basketball and lounging around
November 6, 2009 Filed under Shopping
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By Wang Yu
With last Sunday’s heavy snow, there’s no more doubt that winter is here again – and earlier than usual. The chilly weather and the drier air makorking out a big challenge, not to mention it is so much trouble to get out of layers of clothing into exercise clothes.
But if anything, winter is the time to get the heart pumping. Go to the park and run, take a stroll around your neighborhood or round up your buddies for a game at the local basketball court. But first, make sure you have the right shoes for the activity. Look for a pair that supports your ankles and knees. And it doesn’t hurt if you choose a look that says “style.”
Below, Beijing Today presents some of the latest collection of sports shoes.
(Photos provided by Adidas and Li Ning)
Lotto Marco Polo Limited Edition
Italian sports brand Lotto Leggenda recently released its Marco Polo Limited Edition shoes, named after the 13th 
century Venetian explorer who reached Chinese shores. The shoe design is themed “one start, two travels”; its left and right sides are not identical, reecting two elements in Marco Polo’s life: the rippling waters of his hometown Venice and the mottled stone path of Yangzhou where he once served as a municipal official.
The shoe tongue makes this model one-of-a-kind: on the outside is a pocket, which the designer says offers hope for travelers who get lost on their journey. Marco Polo, during his travels to the East, was robbed several times, so he developed the habit of keeping a coin in a secret place somewhere on his body. Lotto Marco Polo’s pocket is not quite so hidden, but style like this is meant to be flashed.
Only 500 pairs of this model have been manufactured for the Chinese market. To check out the model, visit your local Lotto store or visit the company’s website cn.lottosport.com. The shoe may look sporty, but they were engineered for nothing more stressful than a dash to the local supermarket. But feel free to wear them on a stroll around your neighborhood.
Price: 1,250 yuan
