Fila Sneakers

After coming back to the US market about seven years ago, FILA was a family-type brand with its eye on huge channels such as Kohl’s Corporation. In that period, however, FILA set up a new channel called FILA heritage.

This channel is focused on expanding its presence in the sneaker space.

Fila Sneakers The Disruptor and Mind Blower

According to FILA North America’s director of heritage, Louis Colon III, the brand is currently all about the consumer’s attention.


The Heritage category has seen massive sales and becomes a key revenue source especially with its re-released iconic FILA sneakers.

FILA, arguably the most popular sportswear label in the ’90s is making not just a comeback but a rebrand as well.

At the forefront of this rebrand, the wave is the company’s hit sneaker from 1990 – The Disruptor.


This iconic FILA sneaker was first released in 1996.

It’s a massive sneaker with a saw-tooth sole.

The most popularly worn color of the Disruptor is pure white.

The new re-release of this legendary sneaker brings quite a number of fashion trends to the scene.

Trends like the surge of massively shaped sneakers, known as Dad sneakers, the revival of 90’s pop fashion, and possibly fashion’s new love for the intentionally ugly.

The second wave of the Disruptor is being termed the Disruptor 2.

This rebranded FILA shoe has done massive numbers in stores such as Foot Locker.

The CEO of this store, Dick Johnson stated recently that the FILA Disruptor 2 is one of its hottest foot-wears, alongside the timeless Vans, skate shoes.

The sneaker is a top contributor to FILA’s comeback US sales, which saw an increase of 21% in the last quarter.

Matt Powell, a sports industry analyst for research firm NPD Group expressed that the sales are quite a considerable leap.
According to him, dad’s shoes and retro wear are all the rage.

Another blast from the past being brought back by FILA is the Mindblower sneaker.

There are several colorways available for this trainer.

They include white and green and peach, classic navy and red.

The behemoth clumpy design of this shoe meshes well with fashion’s current love for dad sneakers.

Also, with the FILA logo imprinted on the upper, it’s set to mark its place in the logo-mania trend as well.

Although the Disruptor is already among the top sneakers of this season, the Mindblower is showing definite potential at catching up to it.

For quite a while, the FILA brand and its retro logo have been amassing clout in the fashion industry.

Russian designer Gosha Rubchinskiy who regularly draws style inspiration from the ’80s and ’90s displayed FILA branded wears on the runway around late 2016.

In February of this year, Fendi, the lavish label sparked up FILA’s clout, even more, when it used FILA’s design for its Fall line.

This season, more and more fashion fans are going for logo-centric clothes and retro footwear such as the Mindblower and the Disruptor in particular.

When the international search platform Lyst dropped its list of the hottest products from the last quarter, the Disruptor landed second place in the women’s category.

This list was based on variables such as page views, searches, and sales spanning 6 million items. The Disruptor surpassed hyped products from top brands such as Chanel, Off-white and Prada.

Another ranking list from Lyst of the hottest trainers in several UK cities showed that the Disruptor was the top sneaker in London.


Fila Journey to the Top

The FILA sneakers have the benefit of being easily available, selling at stores such as Urban Outfitters and Journeys.

Their pricing is also another advantage, going for $65 to $70, way less than the luxury brand versions of dad sneakers ( such as Balenciaga’s $895 Triple S) or a competitor like the $100 Nike M2K Tekno.

FILA sneakers are available for men as well as women.

However, Powell observes that the dad sneaker fashion is more prominent with women.

This season is the most significant one FILA has had in a long time in areas like the US and UK.

These are places where FILA vanished from their market after a solid reign in the ’90s.

A Forbes story from 2008 disclosed that in 1997, FILA’s US sales hit a peak of $687 million.

However, issues arose afterward, including a failed attempt at moving the brand to luxury retailers.

Forbes recounted that a decade later- the US division “lost $42 million on $61 million in sales”.

That same year—2007— Gene Yoon, founder of FILA’S Korean division, gathered funds together to purchase FILA’S trademarks from Sports Brands International, their owner at the time.

Yoon supervised FILA’s steady rebirth, which comprised making FILA’s “Heritage” category, a major influence in FILA’s present success.

The Relaunch of the Fila Sneakers

Disruptor and Mind Blower isn’t the only thing the brand is doing.

The brand has released a pocket-friendly collaboration with a weekday.

This release includes breathable water-proof joggers and sneakers all in the brand’s legendary colorway of white, green, pink and blue.

The collection has 20 pieces and according to Louise Lasson, creative director of Weekday, they function as an activewear collection from a minimalistic fashion POV.

Lesson stated that it was necessary to truly create the pieces with a focus on detailing and functionality as well as the fashion facet of urban sportswear.

Currently, as part of moves to solidify their rebranding.

FILA sneakers and clothes are fusing smoothly into wider trendsetting fashion, with the extra dash of authentic heritage.

Louis Colon III, FILA North America’s director of heritage stated last year that “When you see brands in high, high fashion selling the ugly shoe, the bulky shoe—we have had this in our brand DNA since 1993.

He further said they don’t intend to be only a nostalgia label or brand.

They are aiming at balancing the past, future and of course the present.

Clearly, FILA is determined to maintain its presence this time around.

source: usa.inquirer.net

#KicksStalker: LeBron uncorks ‘Silver Bullet’

As LeBron James sets to leave the Philippines, so does one shoe from the Nike inventory.

The Zoom Soldier 11 “Silver Bullet” will be released in limited quantities Sunday exclusively at Nike Park Fort at Bonifacio Global City in Taguig.

Each pair is worth P7,195 and will be sold to customers at a first-come, first-served basis.

The shoe is the third and last pair linked to James’ visit to Manila after a special colorway of the Nike Air Force One SF and Nike Zoom and the first edition of the Nike Air Zoom Generation released on Saturday.

James’ third Manila shoe took inspiration from the Air Max 97 colorway of the same name with reflective accents, a metallic silver upper together with some hints of red, white, and black on the collar, heel, midsole and outsole.

The “Silver Bullet” was the same shoe James wore during his special training session with Gilas Pilipinas players and the media and also during the exhibition game of his Strive for Greatness Tour at Mall of Asia Arena.

source: sports.inquirer.net

Google launches new shopping tool ‘Style Ideas’

Google has just announced an update to its Image Search app which enables you to see what a fashion item you’re interested in would look like worn on a model or blogger.

The new Style Ideas feature could seem quite basic at first. But haven’t we all all asked ourselves how a jacket or dress would sit on the waist or shoulders in real life, or wondered which pants would go with a pair of shoes we’re eyeing?

The idea is simple: in addition to the standard retail photo of a fashion product, Google will show you other photos of the same item worn by one of the brand’s official models or a blogger, who has teamed it with other things.

“With Style Ideas, you can see real-life options of what bag and jeans [would] look stellar with those red high heels you’ve been eyeing,” Google explained in a blog post.

“Style Ideas” is currently only available in Image Search on mobile web and in the Google app for Android. JB

source: lifestyle.inquirer.net

Onitsuka Tiger celebrates its stripes

The second level of Pedder on Scotts, a mid-sized mall near Orchard Road in Singapore, was lashed with stripes on Friday night–Onitsuka Tiger stripes in particular.

This year, the brand is celebrating the 50th anniversary of its iconic stripes first seen on the Limber Up Kawa BK style designed for the pre-trials of the Mexico ’68 Games. The shoe has since become Onitsuka Tiger’s most popular in its collection and is now simply known as Mexico 66.

The distinct stripes can also be seen on every pair of ASICS shoes as the Latin maxim “Anima Sana In Corpore Sano” (sound mind, sound body) was the ethos behind Kihachiro Onitsuka’s creation of Onitsuka Tiger in 1949.

The company’s original mission was “to help the youths of Japan after the War ended [since they] believed playing sports was the best way to unite people and connect communities.”

To mark the 50th anniversary of Mexico 66, Asics Asia Pte. Ltd. tapped 50 Singaporean artists to treat a pair of Onitsuka Tiger Mexico 66 shoes as their canvas. The resulting exhibit is titled “M66: Of Different Stripes.”

“We were familiar with the work of many of the artists so we simply asked them if they wanted to participate in the project,” Singapore-based Asics marketing executive Aaron Han told Inquirer Lifestyle.

The 50 artists had roughly a month to plan and execute their design. “They were given a free hand. The only reminders were that they should not alter the stripes and that it should still look like a pair of shoes,” Han said.

As expected, the results were startling and varied. Lucinda Law painted delicate cactus plants on her pair which she titled “Carminas” after “Mexico’s tiny, spirited cochineal insects and prickly pear cactus feeders, which produce the pigment called carmin.”

The artist Amien decorated the front part of the shoes with a pair of lions outlined in gold. “In Asian history, pairs of stone lions were perceived as guardians or protectors.’Shishi’ is the melding of ancient East’s rich cultures with the contemporary life,” the artist explained.

A pair of black appliqued skulls and punk studs decorate a black and white pair of Mexico 66 by designers Andrew Loh and Kenny Lim. The duo behind the fashion label Depression chose to name their creation “Black.”

“We gave the shoes our signature touch: a studded leather harness with destroyed edges for a ‘street goth meets urban ninja’ aesthetic,” they said.

Trey Wong studded his pair with over 2,000 wiggly eyes then coated the shoes’ iconic stripes with glitter “to contrast with the predominantly black and white design.”

Keep an eye out also for Muhammad Ali, a glitter-bombed pair, and another one with a unicorn horn and golden plaited hair.

The 50th anniversary Onitsuka Tiger exhibit will be on view at Pedder on Scotts until Aug. 14.

source: lifestyle.inquirer.net

Switch to minimalist running shoes tied to injuries, pain

NEW YORK - Advocates of trendy "minimalist" running shoes promise a more natural experience, but runners in a new study reported higher rates of injury and pain with the less structured shoes.

Three months after switching from traditional running shoes to the minimalist variety, study participants had two to three times as many injuries compared to runners who stuck with traditional shoes.

Minimalist footwear is designed to provide as little interference to the runner as possible, study author Dr. Michael Ryan of Griffith University in Australia said.

"Some models are really just conventional running shoes without additional stability elements, while others are so minimalist that they are essentially a 4 millimeter thick rubber glove for your feet," he said.

Biomechanical studies in laboratories indicate that running barefoot, or close to it, shortens a person's stride, causing joints to flex less and theoretically leading to fewer injuries.

For the new study, 99 adult runners in Vancouver, Canada, started a three-month training program in preparation for running a 10-kilometer race. They had never tried barefoot running or minimalist running before.

A third of the participants were given so-called partial-minimalist running shoes, or a full-minimalist shoe with separated toes.

The final third got a traditional structured running shoe, for comparison.

Of the 23 injuries that happened during the training period, four were among the runners wearing traditional shoes, 12 among those wearing partial-minimalist shoes and seven in the full-minimalist shoe group.

Runners using the full-minimalist shoes also reported higher rates of shin and calf pain than the other participants.

"This study supports what I and others have been arguing for years," Daniel Lieberman, author of widely cited studies comparing barefoot running to running with shoes, told Reuters Health in an email.

"If you switch to minimal shoes or go barefoot you need to (a) do so gradually so your body can adapt, and (b) you need to learn proper running form," said Lieberman, who is chair of Human Evolutionary Biology at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and not involved in the new study.

But, Lieberman told Reuters Health, he would not go as far as calling minimalist shoes "worse" than conventional shoes, at least not based on this study.

The runners did not transition gradually, the study did not examine their running form, and it only included the initial transition period to the new shoes, which many runners would adapt to over time, he said.

"What matters most for injury is how you run, not what is on your feet, and this study only looked at the latter," Lieberman said.

In their report, published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, Ryan and his colleagues speculate that the runners who switched to full-minimalist shoes may have been forced to change their running form, and that might account for the highest injury rate being seen in the group wearing partial-minimalist shoes.

"The injures these people had were calf muscle strains and Achilles tendonitis, both temporary injuries one expects to encounter while transitioning and which the body can and does adapt to," Lieberman said.

Ryan said runners should not be discouraged from trying minimalist shoes based on his group's results.

"Runners need to be aware of the risks when running in minimalist shoes, but I still think this footwear category has a big role to play in improving the quality of running form and potentially reducing injury risk in the long term with proper guidance from an experienced running coach or medical professional," he said.

Runners should take time to break in their new shoes before running in earnest, David W. Jenkins, professor at the Arizona School of Podiatric Medicine of Midwestern University in Glendale, said.

"If one is to begin running in minimalist footwear, one needs to break in the new footwear for many weeks before training in earnest," Jenkins told Reuters Health in an email.

"Some sources have suggested at least 6 weeks and what I suggest, break them in for a few weeks just walking around before even attempting to wear (them) running and then do the slow six-week build up in miles," he said. — Reuters

source: gmanetwork.com

Skechers Rolls With The Punches, Delivers New Shoes

Shape-up toning shoes were all the rage in 2010.

They gave Skechers a big sales lift and, then, thump. They fell flat.

Skechers would just as soon forget about the product's spectacular fall, which caused a profit loss of 60 cents a share in 2011 on a 20% drop in sales as retailers cleared out excess inventory at discounts.

As they were clearing out Shape-up inventory, wholesale customers were reluctant to place big orders with Skechers on other products.

Skechers' wholesale customers include department stores, such as Macy's and Dillard's and footwear specialty stores, such as Famous Footwear.

"Skechers was put in the penalty box for quite a while. Retailers didn't want to take the risk of getting slammed again," said Sterne Agee analyst Sam Poser.

Skechers went back to the drawing board.

"They redeveloped a lot of their product lines, and they came up with new product in a lot of different segments," said analyst Jeff Van Sinderen of B. Riley & Co. "That product has been gaining strong traction for the last couple of quarters."

Performance Division

Running shoes were among the new lineup, part of a new performance division that also includes lightweight, active and sports shoes for men, women and kids.

Without one mention of Shape-ups in its last earnings report or conference call, Skechers reported a 39% jump in fourth-quarter sales vs. the prior year, to $395.6 million.

From dress and casual footwear to running shoes, its products have lately been selling well in wholesale channels and in the company's 350-plus company-owned stores.

Same-store sales at company-owned stores rose in the low-double-digits in the fourth quarter while international business leapt 30%.

In the year-end report Feb. 13, CEO Robert Greenberg called 2012 "a remarkable year for Skechers" as the Manhattan Beach, Calif.-based company broadened product lines and grew earnings 132% over 2011's 60-cent loss.

Sales, however, were down 3% for the year as excess inventory continued to be liquidated, especially in the first half of the year.

Earnings in the fourth quarter grew 121% to 8 cents a share. In the same quarter of 2011, earnings had plummeted 657% for a 39-cent per-share loss. For all of 2011, profit fell 122% to a loss of 60 cents a share.

'Strong Start'

Greenberg said the first quarter of this year got off to "a strong start." Shares are up almost 25% since the first of the year.

source: news.investors.com