paper-feet

 U-M neuroscience grad Jimmy Tomczak wants to liberate your feet, and he can do it with old billboards and genuine American- made Velcro: Paper-feet (http://www.paper- feet.com/). According to Tomczak, “barefooting, or minimalist footwear, actually changes the way you walk for the better.”

An increasing numbers of athletes, doctors, and researchers likewise question the podiatric advisability of locking your feet in leather-and-rubber cases.  In a nutshell: Padding out shoe soles in order to provide “support” changes a walker’s gait, causing him/her to land heavily on the heel, as opposed to on the pad of the foot (which naturally softens the impact and transfers force to the complex shock-absorption system formed by the calf and Achilles tendon).  Although the shoe padding sup- ports your arches, the altered gait transfers an incredible amount of force to your hips and knees (for details, visit the Society for Barefoot Living website, http://www. barefooters.org, or read the barefoot-runner’s Bible, Christopher McDougall’s Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen).  As someone with hard feet and crummy joints, I’ve hiked in a pair of minimalist shoes (Vibram FiveFingers, which are essentially pricey rubberized Lycra toe-socks) for years, and have never again suffered a blister, knee-cramp, stumble, or joint ache.

 But Tomczak objects to the steep price of “barefoot” shoes: Mid-range minimalist shoes cost as much as a decent pair of running shoes or adventure sandals.  What the market cried out for was a shoe that felt like next-to-nothing, cost the consumer next-to-nothing, and cost the planet next-to-nothing.  Tomczak’s feather-light Paper-feet are American-made under fair labor practices (mostly by him and a few friends) from tri- ple-layered fiber-reinforced billboard vinyl.  According to Tomczak, the amount of billboard vinyl that goes into landfills each year is roughly equal to the surface area of Massachusetts, making this ultra-durable material cheap, common, and in dire need of reuse.

 But a quasi-origami plastic shoe can be a bit of a tough sell.  Although the Paper-feet website sold through the first production run of 150 pairs quickly (drawing on that growing online community of frugal barefooters), it was rougher going at the Ann Arbor Summer Art Fair: “The majority of the people [at Art Fair] wanted ‘arch sup- port’ but thought it was ‘a creative idea’--the people who knew barefoot running or just were really enamored with the idea bought a pair on the spot . . . . We definitely found our people at Maker Faire.”  The first Maker Faire Detroit, organized by MAKE magazine and held at the Henry Ford Museum on July 31-August 1, was a combined craft-fair/ science-fair/carnival celebrating and serving the resurgent crafting and do-it-yourself movement.  “But scratch the minimal shoe part: People at Maker Faire just thought it was a crazy cool idea and wanted a pair for the kids, for themselves, for the world. . . . People really enjoyed be- ing able to pick out their pair and then have it assembled or stick the Velcro themselves. Every pair is completely unique and people are able to fi nd one that fi ts their style and personality and then help create it themselves.” Not surprisingly, Paper-feet garnered an Editor’s Choice blue ribbon at the Maker Faire.

kudos to vault of midnight

 On July 23, at the San Diego Comic-Con International, Vault of Midnight (219 S Main St., Ann Arbor) won the annual Will Eisner Spirit of Comics Retailer Award, which recognizes the fi nest comic book store in the world, based on that store’s community activity, knowledgeability, support of a wide variety of material, and the quality of the store’s image and businesses practices. This isn’t some flimsy web-based “readers choice” award: The Vault faced competition as far-flung as Tel Aviv, with nominees subjected to rig- orous vetting by a panel of industry judges.  According to Curtis Sullivan (who co- owns the shop with his wife, Elizabeth, and Steve Fodale), the judges take the Award very seriously, requiring that the Vault--a first-time nominee--field a variety of questions, and submit a 100 page history of the store and an incredibly dry 5 minute DVD (http://www.youtube. com/user/VaultOfMidnight) explaining the rational of the store’s design and layout.  As a clearly gob-smacked Curtis explained “It’s the highest praise we could get; now we have to live up to it.”