Interesting new exhibitors: labels to watch

PRESS RELEASE
GDS – International Event for Shoes & Accessories
13 – 15 March 2009
Interesting new exhibitors: labels to watch
Annette Görtz
In the new shoe collection from the Annette Görtz designer label, exciting
surfaces meet unusual details. Rugged cowhide boots with high shafts and funnel
heels have braided inserts in the calf area. The leather decorated with small nails
in the heel area is especially clever. Ankle styles also appear with wooden funnel
heels — either with distinctive lacing or as clean booties. Long-shaft boots in
fine suede/leather combinations with wedge heels and fabric lacing are among
the leading characters in the collection and dovetail perfectly with Annette Görtz
eveningwear. Exciting material combinations can be seen in flat smooth-leather
boots that offer an especially good fit through the integration of stretch fabric.
Rugged high boots and half boots with eye-catching metal grommets are perfect
for outdoor wear. Profile soles with indentations in linoleum cut patterns
intended to prevent the accumulation of mud and sludge are comfortable and
functional. True to the colour-reduced collection, colours are limited to black and
nostalgic mud.
www.annettegoertz.de
Babybotte
The story of children's shoe label Babybotte began with the French man Georges
Bidegain. In 1936, he founded a company to design children's shoes in Pau, a
town in Southwest France. Already in 1949 the Bidegain company and the
Babybotte label were famous. The products became THE synonym for children's
shoes in France. Soon the Bidegain SA company developed a reputation beyond
French borders and was able to establish itself on the global market. In 1959 an
orthopaedic yet stylish shoe was developed and the sister label Le Loup Blanc
(the white wolf) was born. The years between 1975 and 1989 were especially
important for further technical developments. The mission was and is to offer
children's shoes with an ideal fit. Today the tradition-rich Bidegain company,
with its Babybotte label, looks back on more than 70 years of experience in
children's shoes. It is a company that takes the health of children's feet very
seriously: according to the company philosophy, good shoes are essential for
children, since they play a very important role in the growth of the feet.
www.babybotte.com
Baldessarini
The men's luxury label, Baldessarini, stands for the best materials processed with
expert craftsmanship. For the 2009 Autumn/Winter season, Baldessarini presents
their own shoe collection for the first time, thus completing their fashion
offerings. The styles are characterised by an exclusive leather selection in natural
colours such as taupe, black olive, smoky blue, grey mocha and deep black. They
are handmade using the time-consuming Goodyear method. Vegetable tanning
processes ensure a unique and natural leather characteristic. This lends the shoes
more intense colour that marbles with time. Washed goat hide, exclusive calfskin
or velour from Tuscany, lambskin double-face from New Zealand and horse leather
from Chicago are the materials used in this collection. Classic styles are
interpreted in a fresh, modern manner. Next to the typical Baldessarini suede
Chelsea boots, monks, derbies, oxfords and jodhpurs are offered. Manufacture and
distribution of the Baldessarini shoe collection is handled by the Zimmermann
Shoe Group in Germany.
www.baldessarini.com
Frankie's Garage
Bag label, Frankie's Garage, is currently celebrating a true comeback. Founded by
their own admission in 1985 "in New York by a couple of cool dudes," it was born
as a messenger bag. The initial spark was good for an article in the New York
Vogue. Complemented by a record box, a wash bag and a sea bag, an entire
collection was created. The label had its true coming out as Andy Warhol himself
orchestrated one of the bags in a photo session along with his then friend. The
creators of Frankie's Garage separated in the late eighties, and the label
disappeared from public until mid-2008. Now it has returned and presents, in
addition to the vintage bags, many new styles. With the "700 billion dollar bag",
women get a "personal bailout" license and are able to personally profit from the
global money distribution.
www.frankies-garage.info
L.A.M.B.
L.A.M.B. stands for "Love.Angel.Music.Baby" and is the fashion and footwear line
of pop-punk diva and fashion icon Gwen Stefani. Gwen made her name as front
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woman in the band No Doubt. She founded her fashion label in the USA in 2003.
As a designer she enjoys an exceptional reputation amongst glamorous female
colleagues with their own brands: she actually designs her collections herself.
And since 2007 there has also been a separate shoes line with matching footwear
for each style. Gwen Stefani has style, exudes natural elegance and charm, has
been a thrift store junkie since childhood and has long since designed her own
clothes – whether for the stage or just daily life. She does not aim to reinvent
the wheel here or make claims to total uniqueness. Instead she merely presents
herself. Gwen: “L.A.M.B. represents all things that I love. It’s very much my style
and how I like to put things together. A beautiful, timeless, crazy fun collection.”
Her first professionally marketed fashion line came onto the market in Summer
2004 followed naturally by successful shoes. The shoes range grew until Summer
2007 when a complete line with styles for men, women and children developed.
www.l-a-m-b.com
Luis Onofre
Luis Onofre’s luxurious women’s shoes are extremely feminine, elegant and sexy.
The success story of this trained Portuguese designer began in 1993 when he
received the “Better Design” prize from the Italian trade journal Ars Sutoria.
Onofre worked, amongst others, for the Cacharel and Daniel Hechter fashion
houses and in 1999 he founded his own shoe label. The line is now distributed
throughout the world.
The Luis Onofre Winter 2009/2010 collection takes us back to times past, evoking
the military boots of the Great War. With a dazzling array of colours and innovate
finishing work. The designer’s favourite colours include the natural tones, honey
and brown. And especially grey… which, when coupled with innovative and
exquisite finishes and aged leather, takes on an exclusive new aura in this
collection, strengthening the vintage look. Luis Onofre also pays special
attention to accessories, which certainly have not been forgotten here strengthening the refined spirit of this one-of-a-kind collection.
www.luisonofre.com
Mexicana
Founded in 1988, the MEXICANA label can be described with one word: passion!
This passion was born in the founders' youth, at which time cowboy boots were a
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symbol of fraternization, rock and adventure. Add the enthusiasm for Mexico,
experienced as an epiphany. Congruent to their wishes, the men found a lifestyle
characterised by tradition and freedom in this country. As a passionate boot
manufacturer, Mexicana ensures that its styles are continuously transformed so
that they reflect widely varying looks and constantly new lifestyle worlds, always
with the primary focus on quality and originality. The label keeps the handeddown skills of Mexican artisan craftwork alive while lending them a brand new
identity. Every pair of Mexicana boots is the crowning culmination of a long
manufacturing process: there are 175 distinct operations between selection of
hides and the finishing. Ten craftsmen produce the boots according to the
traditions and customs of their native country, fully preserving the handed-down
manufacturing secrets. Afterward, every single boot goes through a rigorous
quality control. Only the hides of breeding animals are used according to the
Washington Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species: python,
crocodile, lizard, ostrich and caiman.
www.mexicana.fr
Harajuku Lovers
"Let the cuteness begin" is the website slogan of Harajuku Lovers, the second
fashion, shoe and accessories label by pop and style icon Gwen Stefani, famous
as the singer in the band No Doubt and as the designer of the L.A.M.B. line. The
collection comes from the USA. The name comes from Japan where being cute is
an established cultural phenomenon. In Harajuku Lovers shoe styles sweetness is
centre stage. The look is childish, lovable, fresh and playful and is reminiscent of
typical Japanese comic manga and anime characters. The women’s shoes label has
been in existence since 2005 and specifically targets Gwen Stefani fans. Gwen
drew inspiration for the name from her Japanese background vocals, the Harajuku
Girls. Harajuku is a district in Tokyo, seen as the centre of Japanese sub-culture
and eccentric fashion styles. Characteristic features of the collection are stylised,
so-called kawaii representations of the singer and her dancers. Cutesy images of
this kind have been a fascinating and successful design element in many areas of
daily life in Japan since the 1970s.
www.harajukulovers.com
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Samsonite Footwear
Samsonite Footwear promises 24 hours of comfort and builds its style on several
impulses: couture, street and sportswear, elegance, wellness and sensuality
combine to create a multi-faceted yet harmonious fashion mix—"smart glamour
that perfectly suits the urban lifestyle," according to Samsonite. Finest materials,
elaborate production techniques and details designed for functionality ensure
impressive quality. Borrowing from the classic-elegant tradition of craftsmanship,
the men's line for Autumn/Winter 2009/2010 translates a serious style with
sporty, easy-to-wear casualness. The colours are sophisticated: brown appears in
various vintage nuances, complemented by an absolutely clean business black.
The women's line caters to the busy life with comfort, feminine styling and
functionality. The look can be described as clean, precise, modern and informal.
Black is the power colour, appearing sleek and often shiny. Deep blues, Bordeaux
and grey shades join in. The styles, including heels and wedges, are wellproportioned, ergonomic and relaxed, and include boots with shafts of various
lengths, as well as heels, moccasins and sneakers.
www.samsonitefootwear.com
Scholl Studio
“Gymnastics while you walk” was the motto already propagated at the start of the
1900s by Dr. William Scholl for a holistic sense of physical wellbeing. Since then
the Scholl brand has been synonymous with comfortable shoes and foot care. And
thanks to the trendy high-fashion line Scholl Studio this comfort now also comes
with lots of style for discerning men and women who attach great importance to
style and quality. Design inspirations for Studio Line include influences from
Milan designer Diego Dolcini who, alongside his luxury signature line (Scholl by
Diego Dolcini), also determines the colours and materials of all the Scholl
collections.
A key styling element in Autumn/Winter 2009/10 is the material mix of suede
and patent leather for shoes, boots and ankle boots with birch wood soles.
Designed with minimalist self-evidence the Basic line featuring Bioprint
technology ensures a comfortable, natural rolling motion while walking thanks to
natural materials like cork and recyclable rubber. Striped and checked ankle
boots, booties and shoes with wide necks look very British. Punk influences and
authentic Prince of Wales checks make the look perfect. Thick, warm sheepskin5
lined boots inspire us for winter sports. Perfectly matching the street and casual
style are sneakers in a leather/patent leather/suede mix.
www.scholl.at
The forthcoming GDS will be held at the Düsseldorf Exhibition Centre from 13 - 15
March 2009. 800 exhibitors from 29 countries present 1,870 shoe and bag
collections (effective 11.02.09) for Autumn/Winter 2009/2010 as well as trends
for the current season.
For all activities related to GDS as well as exhibitor contact data and
collection descriptions go to:
www.gds-online.com
Düsseldorf, 11 February 2009
Further Information:
press department GDS & GLOBAL SHOES
Thomas Kötter
Corporate Spokesman
t: +49.211.4396.490
f: +49.211.4396.6490
e: koetter@igedo.com
Margot Dittmann
Press Officer
p: +49.211.4396.384
t: +49.211.4396.495
e: dittmann@igedo.com
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