Respect Authority

Soul 2 Sole, a short tribute to the evolution of sneaker culture by David Park, has been going around the series of tubes we call the Internet today. As a senior graduate student at Parsons School Of Design, Park produced this as his thesis, and likely will get much more out of his education than all the fools who spent $160,000 of their parents’ money on liberal arts social engineering.

Although it’s definitely far from comprehensive, it’s a dynamic and well-edited montage that touches on the far-reaching tendrils of today’s sneaker obsession — grazing the impact sneakers have had on everything from professional sports, skateboarding, hip hop, and break dancing. The simple fact remains that no matter what your hobby of choice is, chances are good you wear shoes. Come on, even the Geico cavemen do.

Unless of course, if you’re me, and work from home and only put shoes on when you can’t bribe anyone else to go out and get the beers. Or when your toenails have gotten so long that wearing an outfit consisting of shoes and boxer shorts seems like the less embarrassing option.