It is a time of freedom and fear, of Gaia and of borders, of many paths and the widening of a universal toll road, emptying country and swelling cities, of the public bought into privacy and the privacy of the public sold into invisible data banks and knowing algorithms. It is the time of the warrior's peace and the miser's charity, when the planting of a seed is an act of conscientious objection.

These are the times when maps fade and direction is lost. Forwards is backwards now, so we glance sideways at the strange lands through which we are all passing, knowing for certain only that our destination has disappeared. We are unready to meet these times, but we proceed nonetheless, adapting as we wander, reshaping the Earth with every tread.

Behind us we have left the old times, the standard times, the high times. Welcome to the irregular times.


A Tale of Two No-Sweat Sneakers
Friday, May 14, 2004
 
In December of 2003, it came to our attention that Adbusters was planning to sell a Blackspot sneaker that would be made ethically and would feature the anti-brand of a simple black spot rather than a swoosh. Intruiged both by the possibility of a return to ethical shoe manufacture and by the uncanny resemblance between the Blackpost sneaker prototype and the Chuck Taylor All-Star sneaker, we arranged for an interview with Kalle Lasn, who assured us that the Blackspot sneaker was not some kind of cute post-modern joke but an actual product to be coming out in the Spring of 2004.

In the wake of that interview, it was a great surprise to come upon yet another sneaker, looking exactly like the Blackspot sneaker (which looks exactly like the Chuck Taylor). This shoe also went by a catchy name, the No Sweat Sneaker. And yes, this sneaker too was collecting pre-orders and promising to be produced under fair trade conditions in the Spring of 2004.

Well, it's May 14, 2004, and that makes it Accountability Time. Let's check in and see how No Sweat and Blackspot are doing with their quest for the sweat-free sneaker.



Posted by James Cook at 4:04 PM. # (permalink)



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