April 14, 2011

Timberland – Not Just Boots!

American outerwear and iconic boot brand is fast becoming a brand for all seasons, with the classic boot, euro sprint ankle boots and premium 6″ boots available in the winter for the wet weather and the snow and the other flip side of Timberland is available for the summer. With the supposed warm weather this year there will be plenty of chance to flaunt your ankles underneath a pair of shorts, and Timberland has created the perfect footwear to fit with your favourite summer look and keep right on trend for 2011. The superb range of chukka boots, flip flops, deck shoes and sandals are all available for the summer season in a variety of styles, designs and materials with a super range of prices. Chukka boots are for your jeans and chino wearing days when its a little bit chillier or you need something that little bit smarter and Timberland have provided some amazing styles, including a couple of shades of leather boot but also an amazing canvas boot that is set to rival Sperry Topsider this season. If you’re wanting to stay casual or you’re lucky enough to be on holiday or just want to chill down the pub then Timberland have covered this base for you. Longer 3/4 shorts or jeans, chino shorts or cargo shorts can be worn with the range of flip flops, sandals and deck shoes that currently adorn the spring summer collection. The sandals are from the hugely successful earthkeeper range and are made from recycled products including a large quantity of rubber, providing the company with a very ‘green’ look as these amazing flip flops and sandals sit alongside some of their best selling boots. The deck shoes have been reviewed before by Designer Shoes and Trainers to an extent and are by far the most versatile piece of footwear in the collection, being able to be worn with pretty much anything (except jogging bottoms!!). Wear them with or without socks, with or without jeans or simply play around with your own personal style and do a bit of everything.

Timberland was once just a winter boot brand, now they’re attacking all seasons and really do ensure that a good quality piece of Timberland footwear can be worn 365 days a year, for most occasions and events. Any good fashion or footwear retailer will stock the Timberland footwear range, just make sure that its the fashion range not the outdoor range that you’re looking at otherwise you may end up rambling rather than on a sunny beach!

March 24, 2011

The Sun Is Out… Get Your Flip Flops On!

Around the UK the sun is slowly starting to come out, the first day of spring has been and gone and as of this weekend the clocks change and my sleep patterns will go to pot for a few weeks! But all of this means one thing to readers of Designer Shoes and Trainers… flip flops. The second the sun is out that is it, the shorts and flip flops are out and on, and they’re only removed if we get a wet spring day, or i’m going somewhere a little more up market then the deck shoes or espadrilles are out with the chinos or shorts.

Flip flops are possibly the best invention ever. Originating and worn in its earliest form from a design in Japan and worn in New Zealand and America by returning service men the flip flops had woven soles and were worn as beachwear. This was in the 1930s, it took until the 50s before anyone had the idea of changing them to plastic soles. There is a bit of controversy over who invented them first, so i’ll give that a bit of a wide bearth, but by the end of the 50s Flip Flops were more commonly known as ‘jandals’ a shortened version of Japanese Sandals. New Zealand still to this day refer to them as jandals, while Australia prefers thongs and both the UK and US use the more common flip flops.

One of the top flip flop brands around the world is Havaianas. It is widely accepted that the Brazilian rubber flip flop giant is by far the biggest in every country, and achieves this by focusing only on flip flops, sandals and thongs. Established in 1962 their global fame came in 1998 when they released a colourful range of flip flops that included the Brazilian flag on the strap. This design soon became wanted by every man, woman and child and led to Havaianas going global. Many other designer brands have a seasonal release of flip flops, but few are as low priced or carry the same quality as Havaianas. To combat this brands such as Lacoste, Armani, Hugo Boss, G Star, Diesel and surfing brands such as Reef and Quicksilver upgrade their designs by using leathers or soft cottons to enhance their flip flops, allowing them to charge slightly more. I’ve personally got a couple of pairs of Lacoste leather flip flops and they have lasted for ages! As with everything this summer there is plenty of colour to be had with the flip flops. Not so much the more expensive pairs, but the Havaianas and the £10-£25 pairs have plenty of colours available with green, yellow, blue, red, orange and pink among many more bright and eye catching colours.