Protect Your Pretty Feet

Isn’t it just a waste to have your manicured, massaged and pampered feet worn out from pounding on them everyday doing your chores, taking them shopping in the harsh sun, exercising them in steaming shoes and keeping them all night in piercing high heals? And you wonder why your feet don’t stay beautiful and you think that they are very high maintenance!!!

Well the truth is that we don’t treat our feet right and that is why they give us a hard time. But if we do give our feet just a little bit of respect, we will be amazed at how pretty and comfortable feet will look and feel. Stay with us to know more.

Sun Protection. Your feet are an area that is constantly exposed during the summer months and it is very important to use a sun block to prevent premature aging. You may have been taking great care of your face but are your hands or feet a dead giveaway.

History of Athletic Sandals Part 2

Throughout the Middle Ages sports were played in different cultures but it was the British in the 17th and 18th centuries who appeared to keep up the Greek traditions of racing in a straight line. As the influence of the British Empire with its concentration on militaria and discipline permeated throughout Europe and the colonies, many were taken with the idea of competition and fair play. Frenchman, Baron Pierre de Coubertin saw a window of opportunity and wanted to bring trading nations together on the field of athletics. This was a good commercial opportunity for suppliers to manufacture sport's clothing and footwear.

More recently the athletic sandal has made several reappearances and in different guises. The exercise sandal was very popular during the nineteen sixties and early 70s. It was never very clear weather the shoe 'exercised' the foot by its intrinsic shape, or was the ideal footgear to take exercise in. Shaped like the sole of the foot the shoe combined the properties of a simple sandal with a clog. They remain popular to the present day. With the introduction of extreme sport such as water rafting, the athletic sandal has been given a new lease of life. The trend started by Mark Thatcher, not the male offspring of Baroness Thatcher, but an entrepeneur she might be proud of, none the less. Fourteen years ago Thatcher lost his job as a geophysist. His hobby was white water rafting and he began to concentrate more and more on the sport. A source of continual annoyance to Thatcher and his friends was the flip flops they had would constantly wash away. He designed a prototype sandal which would not leave the foot. The sandal with a heel strap was called Teva. This is Hebrew for "nature". The natural sandal held fast even in the most trying of circumstances.

Now Nike, Reebok and Timberland among others sell this very popular item. The new sporting thongs come in a pretty price and would set you back as much as a pair of moderately priced sports shoes. Nothing is too good for the fashionable but a cautionary warning is necessary. With so many eateries and watering holes now operating a dress code to keep the riff raff out, trend-setters wearing expensive sports sandals are as likely to be banned from entry, as "bums in thongs.' In Australia the sandal (referred to simply as, thongs) have become an icon. Loved and loathed it is considered to be as Australian as cork hats and Foster's Lager. Interesting to note this love affair with thongs came to pass at the time of the Melbourne Olympics in 1956, when television viewers were taken with the Japanese swimming team, who just happened to wear geta clogs prior to competition. A clever shoe retailer captured the moment by selling similar sandals to Australians who bought them in their millions

History of Athletic Sandals

In the ancient games the competitors ran barefoot. However as the Greek empire extended many athletes from colder climates came to race wearing sandals. At first spectators and barefoot competitors treated these as a novelty and sign of parochialism. As soon as shod athletes became winners then public opinion changed and the wearing of sandals was viewed with great suspicion and associated with cheats. Eventually once it was recognised the sole of the sandal increased ground traction and propelled the leg forward with greater efficiency most athletes adopted the running sandal.

The sole of the sandal needed to be securely attatched to the foot and this necessitated leather thongs wrapped to the ankle and sometimes above. Between the Greek and Roman Civilisations there existed a small, almost obscure civilisation known as the Estruscans. They lived in North Italy and were well known for many crafts including sandal making. The Estruscans developed a technique to attach the sole of the sandal to the upper of the shoe with metal tacks. Before this sandals broke easily. As soon as tacks could hold the shoes together it coincidentally offered greater sole traction to the ground and the crude running shoe was developed. The greatest challenge to the Romans was how the track shoe could be held next to the foot and this was achieved by using tongs to wrap around the foot and leg. After the end of the games and the Fall of the Roman Empire the craft of sandal making was almost lost.