Twenty two shoes celebrates 5th anniversary with g

Twenty two shoes celebrates 5th anniversary with green totes
,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], and all own boots by husband-and-wife design team Chris and , whose wares can be found online as well as at the high-end shoe stores the couple owns, Twenty two shoes, on Oakland's College Avenue and San Francisco's Union Street. Women are not their only customers. and are among the buyers of their men's line.
"It's exciting,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych]," admits Chris Silverman, during a recent Friday afternoon chat at the sleek Rockridge shop. "They're good advertising. Sienna Miller is one of the most fashionable women in Hollywood right now,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], so her running around wearing our boots everywhere is pretty awesome."
What has Silverman even more jazzed at the moment are not the celebrities, or even the shoes,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], but a line of cotton totes with striking graphics designed by his sister-in-law,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], illustrator and artist . Some of the whimsical designs, created to commemorate Twenty two shoes' fifth anniversary,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], double as advertising for the store, but not all. One bag, for example, features a creature in tears because he has no shoes. On the other side of the bag, now well shod, he is ecstatic. More important to Silverman than any ad possibilities is what they represent.
A portion of the sales of the $25 bags goes to Save The Bay. Beyond that, he says, "I think it is slowly raising awareness of people about reusing your bags when you go, say,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], grocery shopping. Keep 10 of these - not necessarily (these bags) - but keep 10 of your own little bags in your car or with your bicycle or whatever you use to go shopping. When you go to the farmers' market, don't get all those plastic bags.
"It's not just, like, our five-year anniversary; we're not making bags to promote ourselves," he adds. "It's a fun way of collaborating on something different and, at the same time,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], working with the guy in Marin who makes the bags. They're all organic cotton. The guy in Emeryville silk-screened them. It's all sustainable. Keep it local. Keep the money local. It's a way for us to kind of give back a little."
Silverman, 37, began his career at 16, working in a surf and skateboard shop in his native Connecticut. He moved to the Bay Area in 1994 while working for X-Large,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], a clothing company closely associated with the that was launched by his brother Adam (Bonnet's husband). He and wife Alexandra,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], who grew up in Paris and Los Angeles and attended the Fashion Institute of Design Merchandising, met a year later when they were both designing for Levi's. They relocated to New York to work for the Gap, but when they started their family seven years ago, they returned to Levi's and the Bay Area. Then,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], five years ago, peering at a vacant storefront in their Rockridge neighborhood, they had a revelation.
"We could do it," he remembers. "We'll open a store. We'll carry designers like and, of course, I love sneakers, so we'll have a little sneaker collection. After we do all that, we'll start designing our own shoes and we'll open more stores. We literally had the whole plan so quickly; we saw the same path. We're like, 'Let's do it.' "
Now the sole designers of the shoes carried in their stores and the parents of three small children, girls ages 7 and 4 and an infant son, the couple is devoted to the idea of sustainability. Shopping bags and shoes boxes are made from recycled materials. Vegetable dyes are used whenever possible. While much shoe manufacturing has moved to China, Twenty two shoes' footwear is made in a small factory in Italy, staffed by three generations of the same family.
"We wanted to work with Italy because they make the best shoes in the world," Silverman says. "We didn't want to make cheap, disposable shoes. It's kind of like the whole slow food movement that's going on."
Inspired by the philanthropic trail blazed by the ice cream company Ben Jerry's, the Silvermans always wanted to give back to the community. When Hurricane Katrina hit,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], they held a shoe drive, donating shoes to shelters in New Orleans. Bonnet's tote bags are just the latest manifestation of that spirit.
"Ever since I was a little kid, I wanted to try to help people, but I'm also into creating things and selling things," says Silverman.
"I recently learned the whole 'triple net' meeting as a business term,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych]," he adds. "Basically you're a for-profit business and you want to be environmentally conscious and socially conscious. I thought,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], 'That's cool that there's a term for it.' That's always kind of what I've believed in since I was young. Now I'm excited that we're able to do it.
"We've always wanted to collaborate with Louise, somehow, some way," he says about this latest project. "I think these little tote bags are awesome. I think it's definitely the wave of the future. My little girls every day are talking about what's bad for the environment, what's good for the environment. They're 7 and 4. You'll see more and more stores having their little organic tote bags. Why not?"
Limited
Edition Louise Bonnet Twenty two shoes bags: $25. Available at both Twenty two shoes locations. 5856 College Ave., Oakland. (510) 594-2201; 2277 Union St.,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], San Francisco. (415) 409-2277.
相关的主题文章：

[link widoczny dla zalogowanych]

[link widoczny dla zalogowanych]

[link widoczny dla zalogowanych]

[link widoczny dla zalogowanych]

[link widoczny dla zalogowanych]

[link widoczny dla zalogowanych]

[link widoczny dla zalogowanych]

[link widoczny dla zalogowanych]

[link widoczny dla zalogowanych]

[link widoczny dla zalogowanych]

The post has been approved 0 times