Every Clog Has Its Day

Featured Designer: Marie Rivers of Sven Clogs, Pt. 1

nd the subtitle for this post should be: What I Did on My Memorial Day Vacation. Last month I featured a different Sven Clog style each day. And then as May ended, I launched the actual 30 Days of Sven Giveaway (see the graphic at the top of the blog). And somewhere in there, my partner in footwear fanaticism, Melissa K., joined me on a road trip to visit the Sven Clogs factory. Yes, it was a kid in a candy shop experience. But along with all that, I also had a chance to sit down with the owner and visionary behind Sven Clogs, Marie Rivers, and talk to her about the shoes that make our world go around. And not just her own line, but also the wood soled shoes she manufactures for other designers. It was a lively conversation frequently punctuated by her ready laugh. I left in awe of the things she has already accomplished with her company...and the things she is about to make happen. Ms. Rivers is clearly in her zone, an artist reveling in what she's able to create, driven not by the need to achieve, but the joy of doing the work.

 

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ECHID:  Why the clog business? Out of all the things you could have done, how did you end up…not just getting into it, but staying in it?

Marie:  Well, when I was young my sewer broke. And I needed a job. And I loved to sew. And when the clog factory came to town, and I knew that they needed sewers so I went there and got a job and fell in love with it. And that's how I ended up there.

ECHID:  Are you saying one clog led to another?

Marie:  (laughs) Yes! I followed in their footsteps.

ECHID:  But obviously you have a passion for footwear.

Marie:  Absolutely.

ECHID:  Why is that?

Marie:  I don't know. Well, I love to sew. I've always loved to sew. And when I first started, I was probably the best seamstress there. And then Sven [the original owner] was working with samples all the time so we started working together that way. But I just loved it. It got in my soul right away, and I never got tired of it. And it's been 34 years and I'm still not tired of it!

ECHID:  Is it the sewing? Or is it….

Marie:  It's the creating. The creating. When I can have the time to sit and design, I just love it. It's just neat. It comes out like…(cradles imaginary new shoe in her arms)…you have a beautiful baby! And my husband's like: "You're insane!" But I love it.

ECHID:  Why don't you design more?  'Cause you've got ideas….

Marie:  Why don't I design more?  (pants as if exhausted)

ECHID:  Just trying to keep up with demand?

Marie:  It's gone from…in 2009 we did 11,000 pair of clogs. In 2012 we did 26,000 pair of clogs. Do you know how hard it is to train in people and grow at that rate? It's insane! Just insane. It's just something going faster and faster and faster.

ECHID:  In the time you've been in business, how have you seen the use of clogs evolve?

Marie:  When we first started in the '70s, it was more just the fad. And then the fad kind of went away. And you always have your diehard clog wearers. And then the nursing industry became huge for us. Just huge. 

But then Crocs came along. And Dansko came along. And that pretty well killed it. 

What killed the clogs the first time is that a lot of Swedes were out of work and the Swedish government bought a clog factory, Troll Clogs, and put these people to work constantly. And they were dumping clogs over here for like $8.00 a pair when the bases cost us more than that. And they were beautiful clogs. So that really knocked us down. 

And then the Danskos came along, and that knocked us down. 

And then the Crocs came along, and that knocked us down.

But…those are all plastic. So now when clogs had a resurgence in 2008, 2009, there were like zero clog makers left. There might be 5 or 10 in Sweden and a few here or there. But this huge demand for wooden clogs came, but there's only a handful of people that make wooden bottoms. So since we were such good customers, when I buy from the company in Austria [that manufactures our wooden bottoms], they don't make for anybody else because we've been keeping them so busy, plus they make their own shoes there, and then the people in Sweden. It used to be, you know, three weeks they could turn around [an order], now it's three or four months. So you have to anticipate what you're going to buy. And all these other designers over here that would order 10,000, 20,000, 30,000, or 100,000 pair of  shoes,…they can't get wood because there's nobody making wooden clog bottoms. And it costs so much to get a factory going, that there's not someone that's going to jump into it and jump out when the fad goes. Because it's a couple millions dollars just to get machines to do the work.

ECHID:  Do you think the lack of wooden soles drives people into plastic clogs?

Marie:  Well, it could. I think at Dansko they've got an incredible marketing department. And for some people Danskos are great shoes, obviously, because they sell thousands and thousands of pairs. But the thing between their soles and ours is that the wood absorbs moisture from your feet. And it keeps your feet from burning. So a lot of these people who ran to Dansko because they are more widely advertised, are finding now that they don't feel as good as their wooden [clogs] so they're coming back.

And the fashion industry is incredible for us right now. It's just going wild. Did Lisa show you those up there? (indicates a new Loeffler Randall sandal clog that Sven Clogs has just manufactured)

ECHID:  The Loeffler Randall platform sandal clog? Yes! I was just coveting them a moment ago. 

I think you have amazing design ideas, and as a fellow creative person I want to encourage you, "Please! Please! Be creative! Find a way to give yourself one day a week to just sit and play with leather."

Marie:  But I don't have one day for anything. I haven't had a weekend off, I think, in three years. It's just solid go, go, go, go, GO!

 

Marie...creating. (Sorry. The style is still top secret.)

 

 

ECHID:  What did you think when Karl Lagerfeld introduced clogs in his Chanel line a few years back and the demand for clog exploded?

Marie:  I didn't know much about that. I just had my nose to the grindstone here.

ECHID:  Really? Did you just suddenly notice there were a lot more orders?

Marie:  My No. 6 people (Ed. note: Sven Clogs manufactures the No. 6 line, too), they're the ones that really are going faster and faster with it. I don't we even realized how big they were until one day we started seeing things all over in magazines, and I looked at Lucy [my accountant] and said, (sounding stunned) "I think this is bigger than we know!" (laughs) But we've been just trying to keep up. I don't stick my head outside for very long. I try to get home by 10:30 at night.

ECHID:  10:30!!! (gasps in disbelief)

Marie:  Well, you say give myself a day. I'd be happy with a night! (laughs)

(to be continued)

 

Marie...and Dakota, too!

 

 

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[On my feet as I blog:  "Da-da, da-da, da-da, da. Bateman! Da-da, da-da, da-da, da. Bateman!" Yes, I'm running around in my Bateman wood soled booties from Madison Harding. They're a sure fire way to make standing in line for a burrito at Chipotle so much more enjoyable!] 

 

 

Day 24...and Featured Designer (from the archives): Madison Harding

h, me! Oh, my! What to blog about today???

I was casting about in my mental closet searching for inspiration when suddenly I was struck by two thoughts. I haven't pulled a Featured Designer article out of the archives in awhile. And in the months since I first spoke with this particular pair of designers, I've purchased two pairs of their shoes. (And I'd buy more if the economy would just co-operate!)

I first gave into temptation at the beginning of this year when the price dropped on their Bateman bootie on Endless.com.

 

 

Then not long after, I felt the time was right to snap up the sale priced Francis bootie.

 

 

After interviewing these designers the year before, I was inclined to like them. But once I had a chance to own and wear something they had created, I can say they've totally lived up to my expectations. They're a couple of creative people who are doing very good work. And that's always satisfying to see.

But I let you read about them for yourself after a word from this month's sponsor!

 

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Day No. 24

(style #5583 )

Purchase this Deal of the Day and you'll save $60.00.  Woo-hoo!

 

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Featured Designer:  Madison Harding

(originally published March 28, 2011)

 

 

It started with an e-mail from one of my regular readers asking if I'd seen the "cool wood wedges" from Madison Harding. I paid their site a visit and figured I'd showcase a pair in my next What's New? post. But as I dug through the styles on their web pages, I realized that just posting a shoe or two wouldn't do them justice. This refreshing design duo with the presidential sounding brand name has got some magic brewing. And anybody who can survive in the fashion world as long as they have definitely deserves some proper attention.

 

Madison Harding founders Hilary Rosenman and Barri Budin met while studying art at Skidmore College, but pursued different career paths through the fashion industry: Hilary followed a path into fashion periodicals and design and production while Barri sought out positions in sales, design, and public relations. Living the lifestyle of "the downtown city girl", they both noticed the lack of accessible high-fashion shoes designed with women like them in mind. So they did what every frustrated shopper wishes was within the realm of possibility: they launched their own line of shoes. Now that takes some gumption! And once I saw that, I knew I had to talk to these women and find out more about how they brought their designs from the drawing table to the store shelf. Be sure to pay a visit to the Madison Harding website to view the full range of their collections. They do much more than wood soled designs, but I'll let you hunt those out on your own!

By the way, if you're wondering where the name Madison Harding comes from, there's no magical tale of favorite presidents or mother's maiden names to tell. (Though I am fond of the street savvy nickname given the line by one journal: Mad Hard.) It's simply the combination of the street names where they grew up in New York City and New Jersey.

 

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Terrapin wedge sandal in camel

ECHID:  How did you make the leap from your day jobs to launch your own brand? As someone who doesn't know the fashion industry intimately, it sounds like a pretty courageous step to take. Where did you find the inner inspiration to make it happen? 

BARRI: It was definitely not an easy road! We started out 5 or 6 years ago both still working full time at other jobs and then getting together after work at one of our East Village apartments with a bottle of wine, inspiration books, and a whole lot of drive and motivation. We just knew that there was something missing from the market and knew girls like us were constantly searching for it. We started off by designing the collection and then finding a factory to make us samples.

 

Delilah wedge sandal in sunflower

 

 

Samson wedge sandal in black

 

After shopping the first samples around to sales showrooms we realized the quality was not so great so we held off that season and refined the quality for the next. We then got a cool showroom and the selling began. At the same time, we called on all of the people we knew in PR and so landed great press in Daily Candy, Lucky, and Footwear News.

 

Just some of the magazine placements for Madison Harding

ECHID:  And then the next question has to be, what have been the ingredients to surviving?  It's one thing to launch a line.  But then to come back and do it again and again and again year after year and still be getting recognition in the marketplace, that is a major accomplishment.  How did you do it? 

BARRI:  Again, it has not been easy! We have been so close to giving up so many times! I guess the motivation to keep going is the reflection on how many times things didn't go as we hoped and we thought it was the end of the world only to have come out of OK...maybe just with a new direction that we did not even think of. Remembering that things always have a way of working out how they should is helpful to keep the faith and move forward. You gotta roll with the punches and think out of the box! It also helps to have a partner who can boost me up when I am feeling low and vice versa. [Ed. note: Though it seems to me you could always go try on your shoes if you needed a pick me up!]

Gloria peep toe clog sandal in black

ECHID:  What's your earliest shoe memory? 

BARRI: My mom had these mauve, nubuck, perforated, closed toe, high heel clogs from the '70s or '80s that I used to wear around the house when I was 4 or 5. They were very disco fabulous and I felt like a fancy lady!

 

Ripple mule in powder

ECHID:  When did you realize that you wanted to make shoes of your own? 

BARRI: Hilary and I both love vintage and have been collecting since high school. I think it was one of the things that we connected on when we met at college. After college I gave her a pair of vintage shoes from my collection every year for her birthday. We didnt know it then, but unconsciously, I think we both realized something was missing from the market and more girls like us also wanted amazing vintage shoes. After a few years when we both wanted to start something of our own, shoes was clearly the direction we both wanted to go in.

ECHID:  The Madison Harding collections are created for "the downtown city girl". That seems like a very fickle and hard to track fashion species. How did you conceive of what to create for so specific a customer? 

BARRI: We basically created for ourselves and our friends who all are "the downtown city girls". 

 

Wood wedge from the Madison Harding Spring 2007 collection

ECHID:  In addition to your leather styles, you two have been creating wood soled shoes since your first collection for spring 2007. Clearly there was a conscious decision to work with wood. Why? 

BARRI: We love the natural yet sturdy quality of working with wood. There is also a clear vintage reference to the '70s which we always gravitate towards.

ECHID:  Have you ever spotted one of your shoes in the wild?   

BARRI: Yes, and it is the best feeling on earth! The end all, be all of validation!

 

Val boot from the Madison Harding Fall 2010 Lookbook and Collection

ECHID:  What are you most proud of about the Madison Harding line? 

BARRI: That is it original yet wearable, and we have something for everyone. Also, everything is now made in Brazil and the quality is amazing.

 

Cassidy sandal in cream

 

Sugaree sandal in army

 

ECHID:  If one of my readers is interested in a specific style, how can she track it down for purchase? 

BARRI: You can e-mail us anytime at shop@madisonharding.com and we will help locate a style.

 

Hilary and Barri, downtown city girls in search of the perfect footwear

 

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EXTRA CREDIT:  The Spring 2011 collection from Madison Harding features styles named Cassidy, Delilah, Gloria, Magnolia, Ripple, Roberta, Samson, Sugaree, and Terrapin. Anybody see a pattern here? I asked my interviewee what the story was, but I wanted to see if you could figure it out first.

 

Roberta wedge sandal in navy

 

 

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UPDATE:  Today's post features what Madison Harding were up to just over a year ago. But what about the shoes they're putting on the market today? Here's a glimpse of their current styles courtesy of their website and tumblr pages. Oh, my! That flatform sandal looks awfully cute. Time to keep an eye on the prices on Endless.com again!

 

 

 

 

 

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[On my feet as I blog:  I don't mean to be coy, but I've got a new clog on my feet that I designed with the folks at Sven. I'd love to show it to you, but it's 1:30 in the morning and I'm just too tired to take a photo and upload it. You know me, though. I'll probably do a special spread on this shoe in some future post. Stay tuned!]

 

Featured Designer: Les Sabots d'Isa

 

uick recap: I love Les Sabots d'Isa. Isabelle Segonzac-Estrade presides over an impressive assortment of wood soled footwear lovingly handcrafted in her workshop in the Pyrénées in France. But as much as I love her shoes, the four years of French I took in high school and college couldn't even help me find a bathroom at Charles de Gaulle airport last time I visited Paris. It certainly wasn't going to aid me in conducting what I hoped would be an interview worthy of Mme. Segonza-Estrade's time. So I recruited backup. Frederik Sisa, keeper of the thinking person's fashion blog, The Fashionoclast, stepped in to join forces with me in creating a list of questions for a joint article...and translate them into French for the convenience of our guest. Of course, after all that she replied in English!

Last Friday, The Fashionoclast published the first half of our interview. Today, I'm pleased to present the second half. Bon!

 

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Fred 1, one of four different booties bearing the name Fred, each with its own unique variation

 

ECHID:  How did you come up with the idea for your more innovative styles such as the higher heeled clogs and the Fred clog boot?

ISA:  For the bootie Fred, it was the dream which I had since the beginning. I wear clogs all the time, but not too much in winter, because the models are more difficult to match with clothes nice. And I loathe seeing socks... Thus I was inspired by a very ancient model, the "galoche", and I worked again it completely to make a bootie on wooden sole, very easy to wear. It hasn't been seen for decades, and it was not easy because it was necessary to leave nothing, to make the templates, to make trial tens before arriving at a good result. Sacred adventure!

 

 

Petra summer clog

 

For clogs with heel, I wanted to create smart, simple and elegant models. I created at last the soles of my dreams (they're not so simple). and [you can see them on] the Pétra, Tamara, Lisa and Joséphine for the new models.

 

 

Tamara summer clog

 

 

ECHID:  We noticed that you recently added a new men's wooden-soled slide. When did you decide to offer "Jeff" to your customers? And what did you have to do to develop the design?

ISA:  My male clientele asked me for summer models. I designed the model Jeff, in classic version or in trendier version. There is one pair of Jeff in your country!

 

 

Jeff summer clog (available up to size 45)

 

 

ECHID:  Do you have any other clog designs in mind? What can we look forward to from Les Sabots d'Isa?

ISA:  Rest! After the series of clogs and high-heeled models, I rest. Not for a very long time, in fact, I do not remain there. I'm full always of clogs in my head. I am going to adapt very soon booties on soles with a heel for example. I also work for a stylist, and I have to prepare the season, insure the commands, etc.... The creation part is going to keep the night light on for some time, but not for a very long time.

 

Lisa summer clog (note the exquiste sculpting of the wooden sole!)

 

 

ECHID:  What are you most proud of after 10 years in business as Les Sabots d'Isa?

ISA:  To have contributed to boost the fashion of the clog in France, to have pleased to the full of people, to have been able to create smart and simple models, to have helped the clog to be an accessory of ready-to-wear clothing and no more only a vulgar one tool of gardening or very square do-it-yourself. It is not the pride, I am happy, it is everything!

 

 

 

 

 

Portraits 1 and 3 discovered on Portail des artisans d'art et miers d'art en Midi-Pyrénées, portrait 2 on Guide Été, portrait 4 from Les Sabots d'Isa

 

 

ECHID:  Um, purely as a point of information, I have to ask. Um, do you take orders from international customers? And as a follow up question entirely for the benefit of interested readers, um, what would one have to do to place an order?  

ISA:  Yes of course! I already have customers in the USA, and almost everywhere in Europe. And Canada also. Best is to contact me by e-mail to finalize everything. And the site is in the process of translation into English and into Spanish. That will make it more practical.

 

In the meantime, here's a little guide to aid in navigating the Les Sabots d'Isa website. Á bientôt!

 

 

 

 

 

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[On my feet as I blog:  my Mara clogs from Frye. Who can explain why I don't wear these more often if I both love them so much and find them incredibly comfortable?]

 

 

Featured Designer: Lola Pagola

t's one thing to discover a clog you love online and then have to face the awful truth that it's no longer available in your size. It's another level of anguish entirely to discover an entire line of clogs online and then confront the cold hard fact that the brand is completely in mothballs. All those gorgeous shoes...nothing more than a trivia question and a memory. Over the years I've come across a few stunning brands that fall into that category, but none have stirred up my sadness like the unique styles created back in the early '90s by Marijke Bruggink and Marlie Witteveen under the name Lola Pagola. Their lovingly executed website remains as a tribute to the many inventive footwear ideas they evolved as a creative duo. (I'm only covering the clogs they designed. By all means pay their site a visit for a peek at their various designs...including their brightly colored athletic shoes and their experiments with latex dipped footwear.) But you know me. I'm not content to just tell you about what I've read online. I've got to track down the people responsible and introduce them to you. So ladies and gentlemen, please give a warm Every Clog Has Its Day welcome (by clomping your clog heels on the floor, of course) to Marijke Bruggink. As one half of the Lola Pagola team, she's more than qualified to give us a guided tour of these wonderful wooden shoes that are no more.

 

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ECHID:  Your About page talks about how you and Marlie studied "hardcore orthopedic shoe-making outside of the academy".  Was it a course you took at a cordwainers' college?  Or did you apprentice with a shoe maker?  I'm guessing this is where you learned how to actually make shoes. 

Marijke:  We both studied at the Product design department of the Arnhem Academy of Art, where you would normally design chairs or lights, bigger products. That period, the beginning of the '80s was quite an interesting time, although economically not so good. People were starting their own businesses and doing their own things. We were always interested in lots of different art forms. Our friends were artists and fashion designers. At one point there was an exhibition about shoes in the local museum. This was so inspirational that we started to look for ways to learn how to make shoes. We found that the only way to learn this old craft was to take lessons at a school for ortopedic shoemaking. Holland used to have a lively shoe industry with its own design courses, but sadly almost that whole industry was moved to cheaper production places as in most countries in Europe. The study was based on an 8 year (!) course where shoemakers learned the craft of shoemaking, the old fashioned way. We only did the basic 3 years, one day a week, next to our art school study, where we learned to make patterns and actual shoes by hand. It was an interesting clash of 2 worlds, the slowness of learning a craft at the orthopedic school and the fast pace of fashion and culture that was expected at art school. 

This was a way of working that really absorbed all our time and from that moment on we only worked on making and designing shoes. 

ECHID:  Both your graduate portfolios show a lot of flat and low heeled shoes primarily made out of leather.  How did the idea to rethink Dutch clogs come along?   

Marijke:  Next to designing and making shoes we were always researching and studying shoes in general, whether they were from museums, fashion, or vintage markets. From other cultures or our own. We developed a special interest in archetypal shoes: the pump, the slipper, the dance shoe, and in that line fits also...the clog. So apart from the Dutch clog, we were looking into clogs or wooden shoes in other cultures. The traditional Dutch clog is more like a shoe: a completely wooden shape, quite bulky, and not comfortable at all. I can say that our initial inspiration for our clogs had more to do with the 'nurse' clog, the Dr. Scholl: a heeled slipper with just one adjustable strap on the fore foot. A hybrid between Barbie slippers...
 

 

 

...and wooden nurse slippers.

 

 

 

 

We found a little factory in Holland that made clogs and we developed a concept: we did not want our clogs to be 'traditional' so we mixed biker elements (the biker look was fashion at that time) with wooden clogs. Heavy cleated soles, black leather, black wood. The outcome was surprisingly good looking and the products became very successful. People are still wearing the high heeled ones. We were nominated for a prestigious design prize.

 

 

 

ECHID:  You describe the two of you as footwear fanatics. What were your earliest memories of the passion you felt for shoes? 

Marijke: my earliest memories of shoes that I liked were the stilettos of my aunties. They were just amazing and so cool! As soon as I fitted them I started wearing my mum's old black ones. That was quite a good look in the punk days. 

Going back to wooden shoes: I think every child loves clogs, and so did I. The sound that they make, the feeling of the wood on your bare feet—I am talking about what we called 'kleppers', a flat wooden sole with one adjustable strap on your forefoot. The sound of the clog 'clapping' (kleppen) against your foot, I think that is where the name comes from.

 

 

 

ECHID:  What led you to choose a career pursuing shoe design? 

Marijke:  Marlie and I were both inspired by all the people around us that started their own businesses. We wanted to bring nicer and more interesting shoes into the market so we started our company and called it Lola Pagola, after a character from a WWII comic. (It sounded cheerful and feminine.)

 

 

 

It was not easy, as there are a whole lot of other things that are important when starting your own business besides making a nice design, but it was definitely worth it.

And there is never a boring moment. 

 

 

Shoe design has so many different sides that there is always something new to explore. Although rooted in a strong craft and traditional field, there are always new developments on the horizon. What is happening now with 3D printing, for example, gives completely new opportunities to design. 

And I am still enjoying this, see my work for Clarks Originals! 

 

 

ECHID:  What were you the most proud of accomplishing in your Lola Pagola days?  

Marijke:  The best thing about our Lola Pagola days was the fact that we were totally independent and that we were creating our own world and products. Free!

And the adventures that we had: producing in Indonesia, Turkey, collaborating with other designers. 

We did not make much money, but it was a creative time.

ECHID:  Is your back stock all gone? Or like Swedish Hasbeens, is someone going to unearth a storeroom full of unsold clogs someday?  

Marijke:  Unfortunately there is no stock left of any of our products. When we stopped our business we gave our collections to two museums in Holland: the Centraal Museum in Utrecht and the Schoenen museum in Waalwijk. We will keep you updated if anything new happens....

 

Photo spotted on the website of Dutch shoe designer Hester Vlamings.

 

 

 

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[On my feet as I blog:  the mercury dipped below 30° on Sunday, and that was enough of a cold snap for me to slip on my thigh high clog boots from No. 6. Heck, I'll wear 'em when it drops below 40°! That's how much I love these boots!]