Ellen, Simple Shoes and Earth Day

Ellen rocked Simple Shoes on her show for Earth Day, looking extra sharp in her natural colored hemp Satires.

http://tinyurl.com/dxjx2y

Thanks Ellen!

We got a neat Earth Day gift from Chris Toombs at playgroundshoes.com.
He turns our already beautiful shoes into masterpieces. This time he made us an old school pedal car using a shoe box, wire hangar and a nail...and it works! His attention to detail is amazing!

Check out his website. He does awesome stuff and is working his way through college.

www.playgroundshoes.com

Happy Earth Day!

JWT (our creative agency) is having an Earth Day Fair at their offices today.  They have a Simple booth set up and are playing this video that they made.  Our favorite creative team put it together for us- Jose, John, Graham, Blaise and Claire... thanks guys!!  It is super cool, so check it out!  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N18OkuHFE_A

hey joe

Last week, our buddy Joe stopped by the office before heading out on a trip to Chile.  We did a collaboration with Joe last year using a collage of pictures he took around Santa Barbara (get them now for a steal-- 15 bucks here and here and here).

This year we did something a little different.

We worked with Joe to pick two pictures to feature on a shoe and settled on a shot he took of a sunset here in Santa Barbara off of a road called Camino Cielo and a shot of the beach in Taiwan during a typhoon.

 

and here is Taiwan:

hugs,
cielo

the satire.... now with RIBBONS

I love when the shoes that we spend a year working on finally come out... Check out our new updates to the women's Satire... now with a pretty cute PET grosgrain ribbon and made from hemp and organic cotton.
If you like what you see... check them out here... these also come with an extra pair of plain white PET laces in case you want more options.

hugs,
cielo

What are you doing with all those coconuts?

We use some odd stuff to make shoes. That's why we have a Materials page.

Here's how to find it.
First, hover over "about us" on the navigation bar to make the drop-down menu appear. Under "what we are all about" find the "our materials" link and click it.

Getting Creative

For those of you who have noticed the new look of our ads online or in a few national magazines, you probably guessed that we are working with a new creative agency…. And you’re right!  We have been working with JWT out of NYC for the past few months and are super excited to launch our new campaign- less>more!  All of the new creative was handmade (screenprinted, photocopied, cut and pasted… you get the idea) by an AMAZING, small group of extremely talented, creative people at JWT.  Here is one of the posters they did for us- (you can use the one below or whatever you want).

                                                                   

Another reason why we love them is that they are also making an effort to be sustainable!  They participated with us (and a hundred million people all over the world) in Earth Hour last Saturday.  This may not sound like a big deal since most businesses are closed on the weekend, but these people work 24/7.  Seriously.  A memo even went out to the whole company asking everyone to stay out of the building during this time, and encouraged everyone to participate at home.  In case you aren’t familiar with JWT, they are ginormous… so even if just half of the company participates, they’re making a huge difference!

 

They also put their creative skills to work to launch a site called JUNK WASTE TRASH (JWT… get it?) to encourage all JWT employees to do their part.  Check out the posting for double sided printing… the video is hilarious.  http://www.junkwastetrash.com/

recycled apples

We're pretty good at scavenging and we love giving stuff a second chance. We take blown out innertubes make stripes for our shoes. Recycled plastic bottles become PET and keep shoes tied on our feet.

While scavenging the internet for an ipod deal, I found the Apple refurb store. If it's cheap, comes with a warranty, acts new, smells new and looks new, I'll take two. 3 years later I'm down to one ipod. Mypod lasted through 2 years of 40+ hour work weeks, performing as hard as I worked. Dollarmenu is still with me limping along with a reduced battery life, but I can't complain.

If an electronic isn't working and the manufacturer will take it back, send it. It may get a second chance