Chuck Taylor All-Stars: The coolest shoes in the world!

Marquis Mills Converse founded 1908 the footwear company Converse and started to produce the well-known sports shoes. The shoes were not particularly popular until basketball player Chuck Taylor adopted them as his preferred shoe. After proposing a few changes to the shoe, the shoe got its current name.

But the real change happened around the late 1940ties/early 1950ties when the shoes became popular within the different subculture e.g. the rockabillies ort he Californian surf dudes. And ever since they are an expression of a lifestyle: it is the rebellion worn on your foot, it is rock, it is relaxed, it is sexy.

And as the footwear of the youth rebellion cannot be a uniform, the consumers demanded more variety from the shoe. So coloured and patterned shoelaces became popular to complement the two colours, blacks and whites, available before 1966. Afterwards, more colours and styles became available. Low-top or "Oxford", high-top, and later knee-high, versions were produced. More materials were offered for the construction, including leather, suede, vinyl, denim, and hemp. Some versions of the shoe were offered without laces, held up instead by elastic. These new versions of the shoe were also co-designed by Chuck Taylor, just before his death in 1969.

Fans of punk rock have adopted the shoe as a fashion trend since the late 1970s and many popular punk rock bands, such as the Ramones, have supported the trend by wearing the sneakers.

All-Stars became popular again in the '90s to fans of the world as famous grunge band Nirvana emulated the band's frontman Kurt Cobain, who had worn All-Stars for many years prior to the 90's due to the influence of different punk rock bands he enjoyed in his youth. Rage Against the Machine guitarist Tom Morello was (and still is) also known for commonly wearing Chucks, and U2 guitarist The Edge has been seen wearing All-Stars onstage in recent years. Jackass star Johnny Knoxville is also known for his signature black hi-top All-Stars.

Today the shoes are very popularly worn by children, teenagers, and young adults of both sexes. The shoes are available in several core colors, seasonal colors, and a variety of print styles. Due to the texture and unique designs, Converse are favoured globally.

NIKE Air Force 1 – The most important shoe in the world?

The AF-1 came on the market in 1982. At the time, the Air Force Ones were groundbreaking – they were the first basketball shoe to have the Nike Air cushioning. The designer was the artist and sculpturist Bruce Kilgore (also responsible for a number of other breakthrough designs at Nike).

The AF-1 started as so many sneakers as a simply well-designed shoe. It was not until the Hip-Hop community declared the AF-1 model „white-on-white“ as their chaussures d’CEO. While in business the handmade shoes from Budapest or Venetia might be the non-plus-ultra, in the Hip-Hop community the AF-1 „white-on-white“ became suddenly the sneaker that makes the difference, it became a bold statement expressed by the suddenly hyper-rich bosses of the Hip-Hop industry like the P.Diddys and Jay-Zs in this world.

So the AF-1 today is a lot: a well designed sneaker, history, style, a fashion statement, but most important it is possibly the only sneaker in the world that is a demonstration of power as well! So all you CEOs get your AF-1s!

Some facts and figures:

The Air Force Ones are still the top selling model of Nike shoes and are only behind the Converse Chuck Taylor and Adidas Superstars for most sold sneaker model in history.

In the nearly 30 years of existence Nike sold more then 15 Million pairs of AF-1

Amount of money to advertise the AF-1 in the last 30 years: 0$

Number of different AF-1 designs: around 1700

The smartphone: a shackle once more

The smartphone: a shackle once more

Yes, this is a great article how the Smartphone change our communication habits - have a read!

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How smartphones change our daily behaviors - and what the music industry can learn from this!

It is amazing: the sales figures for Smartphones (SP) are going through the roof and it looks like it is really the innovation the industry has looked for for so long. What Apple's iPhone initiated few years ago is still on the rise and there is no stop in sight. Latest figures show that Apple could again more then double their sales of the iPhone and other SP manufacturer profit from this as well.

In a huge German wide study we talked to consumers and sales personal as well. And the surprise is that the SP is nearly for everyone. The manager of a larger network-shop in Berlin explained to us:

"We sell more and more SPs to elder people: the keypads are usually bigger and easier to use and the UI is easy to understand. Possibly they don't want to use all the Internet capabilities, but still they have a great and easy to use phone!"

But still the main motivation for a smartphone is the new way of connectivity. While only few years the airport-stuck hysteric Blackberry-typers were only a business phenomenon, now for so many people it is usual to check quickly the e-mails on the go and let the facebook-community know who the food in the new restaurant was - in real time.

And there is money to be made with! We all have already bleeding ears from the moaning of the music industry about music-piracy. But the industry completely failed in coming up with new relevant offers. The SPs of today show that the new currency is less the content, but the connectivity. And people are willing to pay for this. So Music industry: Sell connectivity! E.g. a life long right to get access to a song, no matter if it is playing on my home entertainment system, my iPhone or on the computer of my best friend. It is the connection and less the content!

Statistics and data have to be boring?

... Well, the simple answer is: NO! Have a look at the stunning presentation of statistical data on the economic growth of different nations by the great Swedish scientist Hans Rosling. May all MR presentation be as entertaining and insightful as this presentation is...

http://www.gapminder.org/videos/ted-talks/hans-rosling-ted-talk-2007-seemingly-impossible-is-possible/

The Network: International Thinking Collaboration

Since 2001 "The Network" provides brilliant insights and international high quality research. The founding of The Network was based on the insight that there must be a clever way for our clients to find a clever team of researchers who can execute research world wide, but not having the hassle of dealing with all local researchers individually.

So working with The Network is like working with one of the big multi-national research players, but at a much higher level, as all members of The Network are really senior and many years in business.

On the photo are some members from all around the world to be found...

Have a look at www.thenetworkthinking.com

Ommwriter a cool tool for being creative!

We found and love this cool tool for creative writing, creating a holiday for your eyes and mind, while writing, or like the makers of the Ommwriter say it:

A wise man once said "We are all at the mercy of our wild monkey minds. Incessantly swinging from branch to branch." With multiple windows and applications all vying for our attention, we have sadly adapted our working habits to that of the computer and not the other way around.

Ommwriter is a humble attempt to recapture what technology has snatched away from us today: our capacity to concentrate.

Ommwriter is a simple text processor that firmly believes in making writing a pleasure once again, vindicating the close relationship between writer and paper. The more intimate the relation, the smoother the flow of inspiration.

If you are a scriptwriter, blogger, journalist, copywriter, poet or just someone who enjoys writing, welcome back to concentrating.

Find more and how to download at: www.ommwriter.com/