The Social Lives of Shoes

8. Understanding Attachment and Divestment For a Circular Economy with Dr. Ellen Sampson

How and why do we become attached to particular shoes? What does this mean for disposal? How might ideas of attachment inform circular and sustainable business models and consumer practices? In this episode Dr. Alexandra Sherlock speaks with Dr. Ellen Sampson author of 'Worn: Footwear, Attachment and the Affects of Wear' about how and why we become attached to shoes, and the implications of these attachments at the end of a shoe’s ‘life’. Credits: Interviewee: Dr Ellen Sampson Presenters: Dr Alexandra Sherlock & Dr Emily Brayshaw Produced and edited by: Dr Alexandra Sherlock Chapters: 1. [00:58] Episode 8 Introduction 2. [02:27] Emotionally Durable Design and Jonathan Chapman 3. [07:48] Attachment and Shoes — The Palimpsest 4. [16:57] The Pros and Cons of Durability 5. [25.05] The Concept of Cleaving — Attachment and Detachment 6. [27:59] Fetishising Shoes - Meaning and Metaphor 7. [30:16] This Is Not a Shoe — Detachment Through Deconstruction 8. [34:12] Divestment Strategies and Managed Letting Go 9. [37:09] Ongoingness, Narrative, and Resale Platforms 10. [48:42] Circularity, Loss, and Material Life Cycles       11. [50:28] Resources and What's Coming Next 12. [52:21] Key Takeaways — Emily and Alex Reflect Transcript links and show notes at www.footwearresearchnetwork.org  [http://www.footwearresearchnetwork.org] www.footwearresearchnetwork.org [https://footwearresearchnetwork.org/]

7. Lessons from Vietnam: Culture, Craft and Footwear's Place in Sustainable and Regenerative Fashion Research

Overview:  In this episode, Dr Alexandra Sherlock debriefs Dr Emily Brayshaw on her recent attendance at the 28th Annual IFFTI (International Foundation of Fashion Technology Institutes) Conference, hosted by RMIT University's Vietnam Campus in Ho Chi Minh City. The conference theme, ‘Cultural Connections for Sustainable Fashion Futures: Rebuild, Renew and Regenerate’, drew Alex to Vietnam with a clear purpose: to put footwear on the radar of fashion sustainability researchers, and to ask what the field's most progressive thinking means for an industry that has long been left out of the conversation. Alex shares insights from key conference papers, translates their themes for a footwear audience, reflects on a visit to a Vietnamese footwear factory, and makes the case for culture as the essential foundation of any genuinely sustainable fashion future.  Credits: * Presenters: Dr Alexandra Sherlock and Dr Emily Brayshaw * Edited and produced by: Dr Alexandra Sherlock * Photographs and images: Credits in captions  Chapters: 1. [00:00] - Show Intro 2. [00:47] - Acknowledgements and Corrections 3. [05:22] - Vietnam and IFFTI: Cultural Connections for Sustainable Fashion Futures - Rebuild, Renew and Regenerate 4. [08:23] - Footwear: The Blind Spot in Fashion Research  5. [14:41] - School Uniforms and Permaculture 6. [20:31] - School Uniforms, Government Funding and Repair Economies 7. [25:55] - Inside a Vietnamese Shoe Factory 8. [31:12] - Digital Product Passports, Blockchain and Storytelling 9. [36:43] - Taming, Rewilding and the Capitalist Co-Option Problem 10. [40:30] - Boro, Kintsugi and the Repair as Ritual 11. [51:13] - Waste Not Want Not 12. [56:01] - The Evolving Role of Higher Education 13. [59:13] - Culture as the Fourth Pillar of Sustainability All links, images and verified transcripts at the Footwear Research Network www.footwearresearchnetwork.org [https://footwearresearchnetwork.org/]

6. Beyond Bridgerton: The Real History and Value of Regency Footwear with Dr Hilary Davidson

Overview: In the third and final episode of our trilogy on footwear histories and archives, Dr Emily Brayshaw speaks with Dr Hilary Davidson, dress, textile and fashion historian and curator, about what we can learn from the consumption and manufacture of footwear in the Regency period, from proxy shopping networks and colonial supply chains to repair culture and the enduring value of archive-based research. Credits: * Interviewee: Dr Hilary Davidson * Interviewer: Dr Emily Brayshaw * Presenters: Dr Alexandra Sherlock and Dr Emily Brayshaw * Edited and produced by: Dr Alexandra Sherlock * Photographs and images: Credits in captions  Chapters: 00:00 - Show Intro 00:59 - Episode 6 Overview and Context 13:56 - Introducing Hilary Davidson 17:08 - The Importance of Jane Austen 20:34 - Shoes in the Regency Period: An Overview 23:33 - Boots, Leisure, and Military Chic 26:37 - When Women's Shoes Lost Their Heels 29:30 - Regency retail: Letters and Proxy Shopping 32:42 - Convicts, Colonies, and the rise of the Global Shoe Trade 40:11 - Theft, Repair, and the Value of a Good Boot 43:00 - Historical Insights for Sustainability 46:07 - Australian Climate, Identity, and Style 51:06 - Current Projects and Future Directions 53:36 - Sign-off Full show notes at www.footwearresearchnetwork.org  www.footwearresearchnetwork.org [https://footwearresearchnetwork.org/]

5. Looking Back to Look Forward: Lessons from the Bata Shoe Museum with Elizabeth Semmelhack

The second episode in our three-part series on footwear histories and archives features Dr Emily Brayshaw in conversation with Elizabeth Semmelhack, Director and Senior Curator of the Bata Shoe Museum, Toronto. From the museum's founding vision to virtual footwear and sustainability, Elizabeth reveals how a world-class collection can simultaneously serve designers, researchers, and communities. And why material objects matter more, not less, in an increasingly digital world. Credits: * Interviewee: Elizabeth Semmelhack: Director and Senior Curator at the Bata Shoe Museum * Interviewer: Dr. Emily Brayshaw * Presenters: Dr. Alexandra Sherlock and Dr. Emily Brayshaw * Edited and produced by: Dr. Alexandra Sherlock * Photographs: Credits in captions  Chapters 00:00 - Show Intro 00:58 - Episode 5 Overview 05:37 - How serendipity brought an art historian to footwear 08:11 - Shoes as Research Method:  Reading gender, economics and fashion through what people wore 11:14 - Debunking the Chopine: Why objects and cultural context must be studied together 15:02 - One Woman's Collection: The founding vision of the Bata Shoe Museum and how it has evolved 19:27 - Designers in the Archive: How and why designers engage with the Museum’s collections 23:22 - Object and Context: The power and significance of the material object 27:11 - The Worn-Out Sole: What signs of wear can reveal about bodies, lives and secondhand markets 31:07 - Twenty Billion Pairs: The scale of overproduction and why most of what we make can't be kept or recycled 34:38 - Shoes Without Bodies: Virtual footwear, the metaverse and what shoes might mean in digital space 38:32 - Next Steps: Roman forts, cowboy boots and beadwork:  the Bata Shoe Museum’s  current and upcoming projects 40:22 - Episode Reflection: Emily and Alex 43:30 - Show outro Show Notes [https://footwearresearchnetwork.org/podcast] www.footwearresearchnetwork.org [https://footwearresearchnetwork.org/]

4. How Footwear Archives Shape Brand Identity, Culture, and Design with Tim Crumplin

What is the value of the footwear archive and museum? Why are so many brands now establishing their own archives, and how and why do footwear professionals engage with archival materials? In the first of three episodes on footwear histories, Dr Alexandra Sherlock chats with Tim Crumplin, business archivist at the Shoemakers Museum and Alfred Gillet Trust (Clarks Archive), to discuss the significance of public and private archives and the vital role of their custodianship for culture and industry. Credits: Interviewee: Tim Crumplin Interviewer: Dr. Alexandra Sherlock Presenters: Dr. Alexandra Sherlock and Dr. Emily Brayshaw Editor: Dr. Alexandra Sherlock Photographs: Credits in photograph captions Chapters: 00:00 - Show Intro 00:58 - Episode Overview - Emily and Alex 07:26 - Tim’s background and route into Clarks and the Alfred Gillet Trust 11:09 - How the archive has changed 14:15 - Recognising the value of the archive as a creative resource 18:28 - Street, Somerset and the Quaker influence on Clarks 24:40 - Vertical integration and traceability 27:50 - How to build an archive 37:23 - The vulnerability of shoe museums and archives 39:03 - The case for the charitable trust model 45:20 - Collection policy: what gets kept and why 49:40 - How designers use the archive in practice 55:30 - Archives, corporate culture and healthy approaches to risk-taking 01:06:47 - External access and community engagement 01:09:03 - Digitisation 01:16:52 - How to become a business archivist 01:19:04 - Finding and visiting the Shoemakers Museum  www.footwearresearchnetwork.org [https://footwearresearchnetwork.org/]