The SOcial Lives of shoes Podcast
What if shoes could speak?
The Social Lives of Shoes explores one of the most underestimated aspects of consumer culture through conversations with the people who design, make, study, and wear footwear.
Hosts Dr. Alexandra Sherlock and Dr. Emily Brayshaw uncover how shoes reflect our values, impact our world, and offer possibilities for more sustainable futures.
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How Footwear Archives Shape Brand Identity, Culture, and Design with Tim Crumplin
What is the value of the footwear archive and museum? Why are so many brands now establishing their own archives, and how and why do footwear professionals engage with archival materials? In the first of three episodes on footwear histories, Dr Alexandra Sherlock chats with Tim Crumplin, business archivist at the Shoemakers Museum and Alfred Gillet Trust (Clarks Archive), to discuss the significance of public and private archives and the vital role of their custodianship for culture and industry.
The Social Lives Team
Dr Emily Brayshaw
Emily Brayshaw is an Honorary Research Fellow at the Design School of the University of Technology Sydney and a costume designer. Her research interests include fashion, dress, textiles, and performance costumes in Europe and America between 1890 and 1930, feathers, the aesthetics of Kitsch, the viola, knitting, and ugly shoes. Emily writes regularly for The Conversation and has authored two histories of Birkenstock for its 250-year anniversary book.
Dr Alexandra Sherlock
Alexandra Sherlock is a Lecturer in the School of Fashion & Textiles at RMIT University, Melbourne. Her research is situated within material culture studies and focuses on fashion, footwear, and identity. Following the ‘If the Shoe Fits’ research project (2010-2013), she relaunched the If the Shoe Fits blog as the Footwear Research Network in 2021. She works with industry and the higher education sector to inform the development of a socially, culturally, environmentally, and economically sustainable footwear sector.