It's About Time. Nike's Back to the Future Shoe, Campaign and Charitable Auction.

To raise funds for Michael J. Fox's Foundation for Parkinson's Research, Nike designed 1500 pairs of Nike MAG shoes based on the kicks worn by Fox's character Marty McFly in the original movie, "Back To The Future" to be auctioned off on ebay and at select Niketown stores.



The project consists of the shoe auction, a short film, poster designs, ceramic models of the shoe, souvenir pins and impressive displays- complete with DeLorean, flux capacitor, hoverboard and more.





The MAG shoes feature an electroluminescent outsole, spage-age materials and a rechargeable internal battery good for 3,000 hours. Designed by Tinker Hatfield and Tiffany Beers, the Nike shoes took six years, three restarts and thousands of hours. Not recommended for athletics, it's a coveted collectible by both entertainment industry and sneaker freakers.


above: Tiffany Beers and Tinker Hatfield designed the collectible shoe



By now, all of the shoes have been auctioned off, but the Wieden + Kennedy two minute film featuring Bill Hader with Christopher Lloyd reprising his role as Dr. Emmett Brown is quickly climbing the viral charts:



Tinker Hatfield, Donald Fullilove and KD also make appearances in this short film about the most famous shoes never made, in an effort to support the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's research.



2011 Nike Mag Price Infographic
For sneaker collectors and enthusiasts curious about the recent 2011 Nike MAG developments, a pricing infograph has surfaced courtesy of Fordham University Graduate School of Business student, Zach Kingsley:



This piece of information above illustrates the economics of getting a pair in the most popular size 10. The infographic compares the price points of Nike’s coveted shoe against a timeline to see its steady decline. Updated every night, sources of this infograph come from eBay’s completed listings of MAG’s nightly sales.

Poster designs for the Back For the Future Event:


above: Back to The Future Nike poster designs by Kate Gibb, Brent Rollins, La Boca and Will Sweeney

Michael J. Fox says a few words about the project:


Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research
To learn more, go to www.back4thefuture.com

Anton Repponen's Design Feat... Uh, Feet.

Russian born designer Anton Repponen has a portfolio full of fun things to look at, only some of which are his fabulous shoe design concepts. Check these out.

Strawberry Shoes (based on an Opening Ceremony shoe):


Kiwi Shoes:



Geo shoes:



Nike All-weather dunks:



special thanks to pitaandpizza who posted the strawberry shoe on picocool.

Anton Repponen's site
His Russian blog.

Like unusual shoes? Then be sure to see these posts:


•Getting More From Your Kicks. Nat-2's Transformable Shoes


•Melissa: Shoes That Redefine Affordable, Stylish, Recyclable And... Plastic!


•Architect Zaha Hadid Kicks Up Her Heels, Or Lack Thereof- Again. Hadid X Lacoste.


•The Virtual Shoe Museum Kicks Butt


•United Nude: Shoes With A Blueprint


•Fu*k Me! Shoes: Chelsea Arts Club Artists Put Their Best Foot Forward


•To Celebrate Oz's 70th, Designers Re-do Dorothy's Kicks With Proceeds Benefitting Charity


•Ruby Slippers: Part Two - The Designer's Actual Shoes Are Wicked!

There's more shoe posts, just put the word 'kicks' in the search box at the top of this blog!

United Nude: Shoes With A Blueprint

In 2003 a Dutch architect from an architects family and an English shoemaker from a shoemakers family decided to start a brand. Disillusioned with fashion and not wanting to be yet another shoe brand or architecture firm, a design company was born – set on releasing specific, iconic products and rejecting broad seasonal ranges. The products evolve in projects from international teams (United) in an open way with direct recognition (Nude).


Above left; Rem D. Koolhaas and right, Galahad Clark

The company has several fabulous styles of shoes now and continues to grow in both styles and staff. It was originally co-founded by Rem D. Koolhaas (Rem D. Koolhaas is the nephew of better known architect Rem Koolhaas and distinguishes himself from his uncle with the middle inital) and English shoemaker Galahad JD Clark, who is a seventh generation shoe maker from the Clarks family in Somerset. Galahad took over the running of Terra Plana, an eco friendly shoe company, in 2003.

The concept of the company was and still is to meld architectural design and unusual materials with product design, creating unusual but functional shoes. United Nude is part of a creative collective, functioning as a hub of interaction between architects, fashion designers, magazine editors and photographers.

Each single pair of shoes is a reinterpretation of an architectural object or represents an exploration of different materials and colours: the first shoe created by United Nude was called “Möbius” and it was inspired by the Barcelona chair created by Bauhaus director Mies Van Der Rohe for the International Exposition in 1929. The uniqueness of this special sandal stood in the fact that it was characterized by a single strip that formed the sole, heel, foot-bed and upper of the shoe.


Above: the Barcelona chair as the inspiration for the Mobius shoe

Mobius
In the Ultra mobius, a single piece unites the sole, heel, footbed and upper, a revolutionary achievment in shoe construction and design.




The Mobius is also available in hi and mid heel heights as well as in other color leathers, below are a few examples.


Eamz


Ray and Charles Eames' famous aluminum office chairs inspired the “Eamz” series, featuring pumps and sandals, even a tech sandal, that integrate the chair foot into the heel of the shoe, a feature that seems to suspend it in mid-air.





Stealth


The “Stealth” is a dynamic platform shoe inspired by the straight lines and styling of the Stealth F117 Nighthawk fighter plane. It's available as a peep toe pump and as a sandal as well.



Porn
The Porn Toe and Porn Toe Buckle styles are made from molding the strongest plastics in the world so the floating foot bed can function and support all while appearing to defy gravity.



above: Porn toe in mirrored silver patent leather


Mono Jane
Molded from very lightweight EVA material, this shoe claims to be the world's lightest weight wedge and comes in tons of fun colors.



Mono also comes in a flat ballet slipper like version.

Cosmo
the Ultra Cosmo uses hand molded carbon fiber for the light weight construction, creating a high-technology piece of art with sex appeal.




The Cosmo Ultra has a heel height of 11 centimeters, and is limited to production of only a few hundred pairs.

Also new for Spring Summer 2009 are the No.2 and the Six strap styles.

No.2
The No.2 is made of a tech nylon heel and available in four bright patent leather colors or two striped elastic versions.



Six Strap
The Six Strap comes in four different elasticized variations, one in solid black and three striped variations.



To learn more, see prices or to purchase any of the above shoes shown, go here.

Be sure to see their other styles and other color variations at United Nude.

If shoes made with unusual and or eco-friendly materials interest you, be sure to check out

Melissa Shoes of Brazil here.


Don't miss this more recent post on United Nude's Spring and Summer releases: