Selectism

Some weeks ago we presented you the first collaborative model between London's Swear and Cassette Playa. Now the second style, the Playa 1. It comes in black and white patent, as well as a more colorful yellow patent version. The Cassette Playa logo appears on the inner sole.

Much like the Cassette Playa collection itself, these Playa 1 shoes are not for everybody. But we appreciate Cassette Playa pushing the boundaries and doing things different.

This model is still part of the Spring/Summer 2008 collection and is available in the Swear online store.

More detailed views after the jump.

Japan's Honeyee Magazine has a feature on Alden Shoes. A four generation old shoe company, Alden Shoes are made in the USA and available worldwide. Their current is built upon the strong hold of their original designs of well balanceed oxords, boots and more.

A pair of fabulous distress leather boots from Ann Demeulemeester. We love the extra long tongue and lacings on these as well as the over-sized fit. 100% Italian leather and available now from Aloha Rag for a mere 1295$US.

The Grenson Shoe company of Northamptonshire, England has been producing fine leather shoes since 1866 - not an easy feat for any company. Truth be told, Grenson did re-launch their brand in 2004 "using its heritage and quality [to make] it relevant to the modern marketplace." New models in the Grenson collection make it just a bit more appealing to the younger shopper. Grenson's Rose Collection for Fall 2008 keeps with the classic, sophisticated stylings of a shoe line "born from English classics." 

And just for kicks, the next time you pick up a Rag & Bone shoe, be well aware that it was handcrafted by the fine people at Grenson.

View the Grenson Rose Collection for Fall 2008 after the jump.

Haute Concept comes through with preview looks at the Spring/Summer 2009 John Varvatos collection for Converse shown at the Blue Tradeshow in NYC this week. The collection features footwear that accents a casual menswear line, with ready to wear looks.

Following up on the successful work with Yohji Yamamoto on a womens line, Dr. Martens teams again for the release of a 10 Eye Boot under the Y's casual label. Featuring a prominent royal blue leather, the Y's colorway compliments the original Dr. Martens line well. Available now at Concepts.

At (capsule) we took a close look today at Sweden's Gram Shoes. The brand became popular not only because of good quality footwear, but also because of their innovative and smart labeling of product. Unlike other brands, Gram weighs all their product and names it according to weight in grams.

Here we give you an outlook at their Spring 2009 collection, which offers some interesting new styles and nice color-ups of existing styles.

More views after the jump.

The Generic Man is one of the newcomer shoe brands that we have been closely watching in previous seasons and so far we can only say that we are very pleased with their collections.

Now they got together with another favorite of ours, Steven Alan. They created a nice hybrid Fall/Winter shoe. The upper looks like a boat shoe, but instead of low in a mid size. They added a nice premium leather cover to the mid-sole and gave the shoe a water and weather resistant outer sole.

What can we say? We love it. It looks great and fulfills its purpose. The shoe comes in suede and will be available in navy, black, green and grey (we do not have an image of this colorway).

More details on the release are to come soon.

Now have a look at the other colorways of The Generic Man For Steven Alan shoes after the jump.

Select immediate and Spring 2009 looks from Superga. Superga offers familiar looks in their footwear while using interesting distressing techniques on the sole and uppers to make them unique.

View select shots from Superga's immediate and Spring 2009 offering after the jump.

A couple of years ago we walked for the first time into the Woolrich flagship store in Milan. Just in case you did not know, an Italian company took the license about 10 years ago and the hype around the brand in Italy started around 2000. By 2002 you would not see a single Italian person on the street in Milan in winter time without the Woolrich Arctic Parka, a down jacket with fur collar. 

Still today the Italian collection impresses. Whereas the European line is made in the US, the US line is made in Asia at far lower quality and is also much cheaper. Two completely different things.

Let's get back to what we actually wanted to say. A couple of years ago we saw for the first time the Redwing boots made for Woolrich. At the time they even had matching New Balance sneakers. Both featuring vintage Woolrich fabric, made on the original mills in the US. Since we are getting closer to the colder time of the year again, we wanted to show you this years line-up. Now there are overall 4 boots, all featuring vintage Woolrich wool on the upper.

Definitely something worth considering!

Detailed views of all four Redwing For Woolrich boots after the jump.