Art Center College of Design student Nancy Wu and premier sportswear company Nike.

The cut-and-sew experiment produced a final product, reminiscent of Roman sandals.

Retailer: collette

Designer: miguel caballero “The Armani of Armor”
Retailer: Harrods (London) and many other spots in Central America

Newly created design applause category
( Ouch! ) inspired by… well, you be the judge.

More images of the show can be seen via The Guardian.

Designer(s): Jean-Paul Gaultier, Dries Van Noten, Henrik Vibskov, Louis Vuitton, Yohji Yamamoto, Gaspard Yurkievitch

To see all 10, go to Refinery29.

via cool hunting

On May 2, 2008, Nau announced that it was closing shop. The reason? They could not get financing to continue operations. If you don’t know who Nau is, they’re a uniquely new business—selling eco-friendly clothes with a unique business model: brick and mortar stores that displayed examples of their product but the purchases were online.

Ironically last August 06 when they launched, as a groundswell of environmental consciousness grew the economic capital markets were collapsing.

The latest as of September 8, 2008: The Road to Relaunch – Part 5

Who is Nau? In their own words…
Who are we and what are we trying to do here?
Good question. Nau is an outdoor apparel company born out of a desire to do business differently. From designing our clothes and developing our fabrics, to the way in which we build our stores, to our dedication to supporting organizations working for positive change, we are striving towards a more sustainable approach to being in business. At the core of our enterprise is the desire to expand the nature of the outdoor experience beyond athletic endeavors, and redefine what it means to align oneself with the outdoors.

We believe in the power of the collective, and we seek to turn that power towards the goal of positive change, in a variety of forms. Basically, we like to learn. And nothing furthers learning more than listening. So we’d like to listen to the people whose opinions we respect—like yours. We’re pretty sure there are a lot more folks like us out there—concerned, inquisitive people, looking for engaging, challenging and potentially transformative dialogue.

Here we feature a collaboration between Puma and Atmos NY, which consists of three pairs of Puma models inspired by three endangered
polar animals: the Harp Seal, Macaroni Penguin and Polar Bear. Each sneaker has its own unique design, but comes with the works of National Geographic photographer Mitsuaki Iwago featured on it, as well as a transparent outsole.

Each shoe in the collection captures the unique characteristics of a specific animal, and features Mr. Iwago’s photography on the removable insole. The name and habitat of each animal is on the reverse tongue and the outsole in both English and Japanese. The shoes were created in hopes of bringing attention to our impact on these endangered animals.

The third shoe shown in the Polar Pack is the PUMA x Atmos Polar Bear Clyde. Drawing direct inspiration from the polar bears of the Artic the shoe features an off white nubuck upper and fur collar, while the blue ice sole represents the Polar Bear’s natural habitat. The shoe comes with three sets of colored laces and have the Atmos “A” on the lace tips and heel. The Polar Bear is currently ranked as vulnerable and is considered to be facing a high risk of extinction in the wild.

Found exclusively at Atmos as June 2008. via Pet Monologues —World Animal Day and Bless the Animals.