Footwear Research Networking event: 2023#1
Alexandra Sherlock reports back on the first networking event held by the Footwear Research Network.
This is Not a Shoe
How can old shoes be used to effect a shift from a traditional ‘design-led’ to a circular ‘material-driven’ approach to design? Research conducted at RMIT University used shoes to explore the transferable knowledge and capabilities that can be developed through material reuse and upcycling in design education.
Steve Jobs’ $220,000 Birkenstocks
Following the recent auction of Steve Jobs’ Birkenstock Sandals, Alex Sherlock explores the value of celebrity shoes in life and death.
Dormant Shoes: Why do we keep shoes we no longer wear?
Professor Sophie Woodward discusses the shoes we keep but no longer wear as part of her ‘dormant things’ research at the University of Manchester.
A Casual Obsession: Inside the British Sock Fetish Council
Professor Andrew Groves provides an overview of his ethnographic research on football casuals and their use of socks to construct inclusive and hybrid masculinities.
Introducing: Jo Cope
In the first of a regular feature introducing our esteemed Network contributors, we shine the spotlight on our newest addition, fashion artist and conceptual designer Jo Cope.
Concealed Shoes revealed
Senior Shoe Curator Rebecca Shawcross explores the significance and mysteries of the Northampton Museum’s concealed shoe collection.
Review: The Futures Archive ‘The Shoe’ (S1/E10)
For many, shoes are considered a luxury and their study… frivolous. The insights shared in The Futures Archive’s recent podcast ‘The Shoe’ highlight the often critical importance shoes play in processes of being and becoming.
Shoe and Tell
Dr. Naomi Braithwaite talks to Footwear Today about ‘Shoe and Tell’, a three-year study by Nottingham Trent University exploring the relationship between Generation Z and their choices in footwear.
'Making Presence Felt': a project from the archive
Artist Fiona Candy investigates the spatial movement and energy of the city through material and audio exhibits centred on contact between the foot and ground, where many believe we are the most fundamentally in touch with our surroundings. Footwear captured in action- being worn.
Book review:
Alex Sherlock reviews Ellen Sampson’s book ‘Worn: Footwear, Attachment and the Affects of Wear’ for the academic journal Fashion Theory.
Taking Stock: a Footwear Research Review and Reading List
In the interest of expanding and advancing the field of footwear studies, the Footwear Research Network’s contributors have put their heads together to produce a list of recommended past and present academic texts upon which to build future contributions.