Towards the end of the day wearing the shoes, when I arrive from work I feel none of the achiness that occurs after walking upwards of an
Air Force 1 hour in a single pair of shoes. And not only am I miraculously not in pain, my feet don't even
have that tired feeling that tends to come from wearing shoes in general.
"If I sound out of breath, it's not because I'm sick," she vows. "It's because I'm working out!" (Weight training,
Air Force 1 Shoes FYI.) "My [DSW] sneakers have quite a lift in them, actually," she says. "You know the
sneakers with the really sick bottoms, like Balenciaga? That's the kind I like.
I mean, I'll always take an extra half an inch if I can get it. Absolutely."
From innovation
Nike Air Force to sourcing to design to packaging, every aspect of their decision-making takes the environment into consideration. Sure, sustainable is
the buzzword du jour, and it's led fashion brands across the globe to hop on the
bandwagon, often at the expense of good design. Unfortunately, this means
consumers have come to expect a sad compromise when it comes to 'green'
goods-low on style, high on conscience. But that's precisely the landmine that
Allbirds' founders, former New Zealand footballer Tim Brown and renewable
materials expert Joey Zwillinger, have managed to neatly dodge, with a brand
philosophy that leads with design first, sustainability second. What's the point
of being an eco-friendly business if no one's going to buy what you're
selling?
Daniel does the work to bridge these glaring racial gaps. Harlem's Fashion Row has been responsible for connecting BIPOC designers with major brands like
Nike, organizations like the CFDA, and publications including this one. In 2018,
she organized a Nike-sponsored fashion show for up-and-coming Black female
designers cohosted by LeBron James. And last year at New York Fashion Week
Daniels teamed up with IMG to host an exhibition of costume designer Ruth E.
Carter's work. She holds annual corporate retreats that bring together people
from all levels of the fashion industry and designers at various stages in their
careers. The point of Harlem's Fashion Row is to foster meaningful, long-lasting
relationships between groups of creatives and business leaders that wouldn't
typically interact in the hierarchical and predominantly white fashion
system.
"Comfortable heels" is one of those phrases more useful as an illustration of the dictionary definition for oxymoron than an actual description of anything on
Earth. No matter how many times an impossibly chic woman proclaims her 4-inch
stiletto spikes to be "so comfortable!," it is always a lie. Any time I've worn
a pair of heels above 3 inches for longer than 2 hours, I'm left
Nike Air Force 1 re-enacting my own private version of Edvard Munch's The Scream (1893). Until???now?
