Earth shoe (original) (raw)
The Earth Shoe (also known as the Kalsø Earth Shoe) was an unconventional style of shoe invented circa 1957 by Danish yoga instructor and shoe designer Anna Kalsø. Its unique "negative heel technology" design featured a sole that was thinner at the heel than at the forefoot, so that when wearing them, one walked heel downward, as when walking in sand, with various claimed health benefits.
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| dbo:abstract | The Earth Shoe (also known as the Kalsø Earth Shoe) was an unconventional style of shoe invented circa 1957 by Danish yoga instructor and shoe designer Anna Kalsø. Its unique "negative heel technology" design featured a sole that was thinner at the heel than at the forefoot, so that when wearing them, one walked heel downward, as when walking in sand, with various claimed health benefits. In 1970, Raymond and Eleanor Jacobs founded the Earth Shoe company in the United States, after discovering Anna Kalsø and her negative-heel shoes in Copenhagen, Denmark. The shoes were introduced in New York City on April 1, 1970, three weeks before the first Earth Day. The shoes quickly became a popular countercultural symbol of the 1970s. The company expanded to 123 stores to sell the shoes, boots, and sandals, all with the negative-heel design, across the United States, Canada, and Europe. The shoes surged in popularity and were prominently featured on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson and in Time magazine. Soon, other firms, including Roots Canada, also marketed similar negative-heel shoes. Experts expressed varying opinions on whether the shoes were good or bad for one's feet. By 1976 sales had grown to $14 million, but the company dissolved in 1977. When the manufacturer of Kalsø Earth Shoes was unable to keep up with demand, franchise owners pursued litigation against the United States distributor. In 2001, Kalsø Earth Shoes re-surfaced after the rights to the name, technology and branded properties were purchased by Meynard Designs, Inc. Subsequent reorganization of Meynard Designs led to the creation of Earth, Inc., as the manufacturing and marketing entity for Kalsø Earth Shoes. They are not to be confused with the Earth Spirit shoe brand sold by Walmart, and others. (en) |
| dbo:wikiPageExternalLink | https://earthshoes.com/pages/kalso |
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| dbo:wikiPageRevisionID | 1059979475 (xsd:integer) |
| dbo:wikiPageWikiLink | dbr:Roots_Canada dbr:Denmark dbr:Earth_Day dbr:Copenhagen dbr:Counterculture dbr:The_Tonight_Show_Starring_Johnny_Carson dbr:Shoe dbc:1970s_fashion dbc:Shoes dbr:Time_(magazine) dbr:Walmart dbr:New_York_City dbr:Raymond_Jacobs_(photographer) |
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| dcterms:subject | dbc:1970s_fashion dbc:Shoes |
| gold:hypernym | dbr:Style |
| rdf:type | yago:WikicatShoes yago:Artifact100021939 yago:Covering103122748 yago:Footwear103380867 yago:Object100002684 yago:PhysicalEntity100001930 yago:Shoe104199027 yago:Whole100003553 |
| rdfs:comment | The Earth Shoe (also known as the Kalsø Earth Shoe) was an unconventional style of shoe invented circa 1957 by Danish yoga instructor and shoe designer Anna Kalsø. Its unique "negative heel technology" design featured a sole that was thinner at the heel than at the forefoot, so that when wearing them, one walked heel downward, as when walking in sand, with various claimed health benefits. (en) |
| rdfs:label | Earth shoe (en) |
| owl:sameAs | freebase:Earth shoe yago-res:Earth shoe wikidata:Earth shoe https://global.dbpedia.org/id/4j7oG |
| prov:wasDerivedFrom | wikipedia-en:Earth_shoe?oldid=1059979475&ns=0 |
| foaf:isPrimaryTopicOf | wikipedia-en:Earth_shoe |
| is dbo:wikiPageRedirects of | dbr:Earth_shoes |
| is dbo:wikiPageWikiLink of | dbr:Roots_Canada dbr:Brett_Kimberlin dbr:Index_of_fashion_articles dbr:1970s_in_fashion dbr:Raymond_Jacobs_(photographer) dbr:List_of_shoe_styles dbr:Earth_shoes |
| is foaf:primaryTopic of | wikipedia-en:Earth_shoe |