not quite air force ones
I just purchased a new pair of sneakers online. This is very rare for me. I have a terribly difficult time buying shoes because they all seem to be made in sweatshops. Royal Elastics appear to be at least trying to make sure their products aren’t produced by slaves. And in the sad context of footwear production, where corporations insist that sweatshop labor is necessary for them to exist- the effort worth quite a bit.
I suppose I could have investigated Adbuster’s answer to Nike, the black spot sneaker, (like this guy) but I wanted a shoe that could masquerade as appropriate footwear in a “biz-cash” office environment. How my clothes look matters to me. They give me confidence and comfort. It’s a balance of ethic and aesthetic. Now, I love chucks as much as the next guy- but a quick tour of the local shoe store or visit to their website (they aren’t getting a link) tells the simple truth: Nike isn’t one of the most powerful brands in the world because of slavery alone, they have seriously creative people doing awesome work.
And the question lingers — why don’t all these talented people just up and quit ? Are skilled designers in such great supply that they can be easily replaced ? Does Nike make offers they can’t refuse ? Can’t we get just one or two to emigrate to Adbusters and make a black spot sneaker with some imagination ?