Walking Shoes

Primary and Secondary Functions:

Family of Products

Cultures of Use - How is it meaningful to people?

Sport		Work		Leisure
Running		Farms		Fishing
			Factories		Walking
Walking		Other		Outing
:))		In fact, everyone wears walking shoes		Just don't overdo it!

There are much more that can be included here, however, I believe it is not neccessary to list everything. :)

Bill of Materials

Infrastructure / Lifespan

As mentioned in in the reading Eternally Yours Shoe Industry provides the system around the product - Repair Services and Care products to prolong its life. By re-stiching, polishing, and resoling shoe repairs extend the life of shoes so that in the best possible scenario shoes could last 'forever'. However, there is also a down side to this. Wearing the same pair of shoes may become boring, and they may not suit the season or the occasion. We all know that newness in our soceity is celebrated above all other, which means it encourages consumption of big quantities of products, partially shoes. Therefore, it becomes easier in our society to buy a pair, that would last for one season, and then change, just to renew your style.

Eternally Yours

Shoes + Identity

Shoes can tell various things about a person, his character, social status, habits and beliefs. All of these are reflected in what kind of shoes they are and where they are used and how they are treated. Respectively they reflect the cultures of use that these shoes were adapted to, occasions for which they have been worn to etc.

Stories around Shoes

Shoes are a personal record of our lives. As mementos of occasions on which they were worn, shoes preserve the past, triggering memories as vivid as those in a photo album. We relate to the pair of shoes by the stories that link us to the past events, situations. Complex emotions are attached to shoes, not as much to the shoes themselves but to the occasions they have been used for and people we remember and relationships that these shoes witnessed. 

Status and Economic Position

Shoes have always reflected the wearer's status and economic position. Rural and Working class women had always worn sensible shoes. Upper class women were "imprisoned" by impractical, but beautiful styles. However, it was acceptable for upper-class women to wear riding boots and other sport related footwear. "A period of rapid social and economic changes changed women's lives. By the 1920's women liberation opened opportunities for women to participate in social activities, work outside home (in offices and factories) and their shoes became more practical and less confining."

Meaning

Psychologists have vigorously explored the hidden meaning of shoes. Some say that the woman who collects shoes is a frustrated traveller; other suggest that she is symbolically searching for enlightenment. "A pair of new shoes might not cure a broken heart or soothe the tension headache, but they definitely will relieve symptoms and chase away the blues."

Shoe Collectors

Research found that an average American woman owns at least 30 pairs of shoes; collectors own them in hundreds. The psychology behind it is for if your body lets you down, your feet will still lift your spirits. "feet don't gain or lose weight. You might not be able to wear your favourite pair of pants if you gain a few kilos, but you can always wear your favourite pair of shoes". (Sarah Vass, collector who lives with more than 500 pairs of shoes) The impulse to buy has nothing to do with need, - its a feeling of wearing anew persona, new identity, that comes from wearing a shoe.

Fashion Statement

Fashion establishes trends and constructs personalities. Shoes reflect the status and shows how much a person follows the time and new trends in the society to adapt the latest most fashionable styles. It is a well-known fact that we create ourselves through fashion, we either become someone we want to be - or project an image of being something, or reconfirm our own identity through the clothes and the shoes we wear. However, it is difficult to say that fashion nowadays is flexible and allows the person to truly express his / her identity, and we all depend on the fashion industry and what it gives us, we can only buy what fashion specialists decided is fashionable this season etc. Fashion also differs from culture to culture, therefore shoes and clothes of that culture will reflect other trends.  In regards to shoes, what started as a practical application ended up a as a fashion statement. Even those everyday walking shoes are given characteristics and qualities that are important for the fashion industry, like sex appeal.

Donald Norman �The Psychopathology of Everyday Things�

Norman's argument in his article "The Psyychopathology of Everyday things" identifies 4 major concepts that I'll try to explain here: affordances, constraints, feedback and mappings. 

Affordance, Mappings and Constraints in shoes are represented through the same set of qualites.  These tell us what shoes know about us, what are the very crutial conditions and requirements that shoes took into account to serve its user best. Shoes know that we need  protection from the environments that people circulate in. But even before that shoes possess a very important piece of knowledge. The fact that I started saying that they always needs to be a pair of shoes, shoes know that people have 2 legs and 2 feet that need protection. They also know that we need protection from the very early age, which means that shoes understand that people grow, as well as their feet. Therefore they come in all sizes, which have been standardised and rationally structured to afford everyone's needs. Shoes know our foot structure, so to provide comfort and flexibility, by following the natural contours of the arch of the foot and provide support while walking. Shoes also take careful account of people's weight, making sure its equally distributed throughout the foot, which is a critical piece of knowledge to take care of. Shoemakers recordings from a footprint that show the distribution of body weight, the maker judges the symmetry of the toes, calibrates the girth of the instep and ball of the foot, and calculates the height of the big toe and the contour of the instep. He also estimated how the foot will move inside the shoe. 

Mappings and Constrainst make sure that the right shoe is worn on the right foot and the left shoe is worn on the left foot, as well as that they are the proper size depending on the age of a person wearing them. If shoes are too tight ot too loose, they communicate that through feedback, allowing us to adjust to that, by changing the shoes, otherwise taking extreme measures by letting us know that they are not right through mozoli or rough skin surfaces while walking.

All of these communication techniques and tacit understandings of human needs and help people realise their possibilities and opportunities. 

Problem with Walking Shoes

What started as a practical application ended up a as a fashion statement!

The main problem that needs to be solved in regards to shoes is their sex appeal culture of use. By this I do not mean to completely reduce their aesthetically pleasing looks, but simplify or maybe calm down the rush of trying to race after fashion and concentrate on the primary function of what they were originally made for. The main issue with shoes that need to be solved is directly related to the problem, which cannot be solved. We cannot really say that it is a problem. We create the problem out of it, rather as one of the caprises for our convenience than looking at it from a logical point of view. We are winging about consumption, seasons and having to buy more than one pair of shoes for different purposes, however, we cannot change the weather, however, we can start changing cultures and traditions around shoes to make people more aware of their comsumer choices.

One suggestion that may be put forward is to create an universal pair of shoes, which would satisfy all the requirements and suit all functions. This means that it may be appropriate for all seasons, all occasions and all times. For example, these could be worn to formal occasions, as well as be used as summer or winter wear, or become beach thongs or raise a hill on them for different purposes. It would understand the dippest desires of the individual, react on smell, moisture sensors to regulate the temperature and conditions of a foot. 

This is the main issue in regards to walking shoes, as well as some practical suggestions that need to be resolves. These issues concern the wearability of shoes, prolonging their  life as well as adapting to different situations, seasons etc. Now, the main element related to shoes is adaptation, shoes adapting to the person wearing them, and the person to sure, where he / she goes through stages that had been discussed earlier by Norman and Eternally Your's organisation. Through my personal experience and other people's reports it can be suggested that This process need to and can be softened, by means of materials that are used to produce shoes to soften the damaing effect of feedback that results in injured feet and hardening skin.

A very good issue that needs careful consideration when it comes to creating strong shoes that would last longer and by doing that reduce people's consumption. If we take The Army (Country's Defence Forces), which is a government regulated body, where shoes that are made for soldiers can last for a very very long and care for more than one soldier. Whereas shoes that are produced for gerenal public last for a season and then get through away. This demonstrates a conscious decision to cater for soldiers who's purpose concerns the safety of the country and its wealth on the global level and on the other hand shoes that are made for the public need not last long, because consumption increases government earnings in taxes etc. Therefore from here it can be concluded, that it is more profitable for the government to produce shoes that do not need much care and can be disposed off after one season. The government also takes into consideration employment levels etc, if we will start to produce good quality, long lasting shoes, consumption decreases and unemployment will increase because it will leave many people without jobs. From this it is evident that the problem needs a responsible solution, that would take into account all economic, social, physical aspects of shoe making industry and provide a responsible service to everyone.

Links:

http://www.digilast.com/shoe school/photo_gallery/working.html

http://www.curtin.edu.au/curt in/dept/physio/podiatry/tight.html