Today we’re talking about shoes, specifically, the ones your kids have outgrown.
There are some programs that take old running shoes and recycle them into the stuff they put around playgrounds, but some shoes don’t qualify.
And if they can’t be recycled, and you don’t want to throw them out, but they also aren’t in quite good enough shape to give away or donate, they just sort of sit there. At least in my basement, they do.
Maybe that’s why I was so intrigued by a new project by designer Shahar Asor.
She’s created shoes for kids with an expiration date.
The project is called “Best Before,” and the concept here is that most shoes are designed with materials that will last seemingly forever, even though we know their actual usable lifespan is much shorter.
Her shoes are different.
For one thing, they’re knitted.
There’s a soft top part and a hard bottom part, but it’s all one knitted piece.
Over time, as the shoes start to break down, the logo will appear on the left shoe.
That’s the signal that they’ve reached the end of their lifespan and will come apart in their next trip through the washing machine.
Since the shoes are made of a biodegradable thread, they can dissolve without taking up space in a landfill.
Or, for that matter, in my basement.
It’s been a week, friends.
Fortunately, we have an antidote to all that negativity: Vinnie’s Pizzeria in Brooklyn is now letting customers order “comforting words.”
This is what it says on the menu: “For $1, our delivery driver will look you straight in the eyes and tell you ‘EVERYTHING’S GONNA BE OK AND YOU’RE DOING THE BEST YOU CAN.'”
So hang in there!
Shahar Asor knits children’s shoes with an expiration date using biodegradable thread (designboom)
Vinnie’s Pizzeria in Brooklyn Delivers Comforting Words of Positive Reinforcement for the Very Small Fee of $1 (Laughing Squid)
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