A second man has been charged in connection with the 2005 theft of a pair of ruby slippers worn by Judy Garland in “The Wizard of Oz,” according to the authorities, who said that he had threatened to a release a sex tape of a woman if she told the authorities about the theft. The […]
Read MoreTag: Shoes and Boots
Playing Soccer in $1.50 Sandals That Even Gucci Wants to Copy
The wealthy pros of Ivory Coast’s national soccer team were resting in their luxury hotel last week, preparing for a match in Africa’s biggest tournament, when Yaya Camara sprinted onto a dusty lot and began fizzing one pass after another to his friends. Over and over, he corralled the game’s underinflated ball and then sent […]
Read MoreA Chocolate Fondue to Remember
The summer after college, I worked briefly as a shoe model. By briefly, I mean that I was fired after one day. I had sublet a basement room somewhere in the hundreds on the West Side of Manhattan, and my belongings, mostly books, remained unpacked, in duct-taped boxes stacked around the bed. I had to […]
Read MoreNikki Haley Wears the Skirts
In a crowded field of Republican presidential candidates, Nikki R. Haley is starting to stand out. Such, anyway, seems to be the conclusion of pollsters, voters and donors alike, who have helped bolster her numbers since she first took to the debate stage back in August. She’s on enough of an upswing that “Saturday Night […]
Read MoreKanye West and Adidas: How Misconduct Broke a Lucrative Partnership
Adidas employees quickly discovered that Mr. West was brimming with ideas. They also learned that he operated unlike anyone else they had encountered. He could be enthusiastic to the point of creating chaos. Early on, he showed up unexpectedly at Adidas’s New York office with Ms. Kardashian and tens of thousands of dollars’ worth of […]
Read MoreInside Kanye West’s Fraught Relationship With Adidas: 7 Takeaways
When Adidas cut ties with Kanye West a year ago, ending their wildly lucrative shoe deal, the breakup appeared to be the culmination of weeks of his inflammatory remarks about Jews and Black Lives Matter. But a New York Times examination found that behind the scenes, the partnership was fraught from the start. Mr. West, […]
Read MoreProfit and Loss
Birkenstock, the German sandal company once associated with Steve Jobs, people who make their own yogurt and the guys in my high school who played hacky sack in the hallways, raised $1.48 billion in an initial public offering this week. “Somehow one feels that a person in Birkenstocks is less likely to trample Nature than […]
Read MoreFrom LSD to I.P.O.
This may be a tale about the rise of a German sandal brand, but it is not a straightforward fashion story. After all, for a large chunk of its 249-year history, Birkenstock was synonymous with extremely unfashionable stereotypes. The sandals were often worn by hippies and off-duty hikers, eccentric aunts and science teachers with a […]
Read MoreWhy the Cool Kids Can Never Forgive the Tabi Theft
All this is funneled through Dougé’s narration, leaving questions galore. How did the man target the right size? Did he really think he could get away with it? Had he learned nothing from “West Elm Caleb”? The Tabi swiper gets no nuanced biography here; depending on your degree of sympathy for property crime, he is […]
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