Are shoes a communications technology?

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When we visit with someone, we're communicating. And if we don't have a telephone, or just want to speak face to face, and we walk from here to there in order to visit, we ordinarily wear shoes. Thus, even though I'm very heavily stretching things, perhaps we can regard shoes as a communications technology. And if we do that, I've got an addition date tie-in for this month - one with personal meaning for me.

It was on this day, in 1964, that the DuPont corporation first marketed shoes made with Corfam, a synthetic leather. Corfam was supposed to be a hit. DuPont apparently predicted that by 1984 25% of American shoes would be made from it, rather than from leather. But something went wrong, and only seven years after being introduced it was removed from the market - one of the more dismal marketing failures of the last century.

I don't wear leather, which often means that in winter my feet get much wetter than they have to. I'd be happy to get shoes made from Corfam, or any other synthetic material, but I'm only very rarely able to do so. The U.S. Navy, however, apparently still issues shoes made from Corfam, and, judging from the photos of I've seen, I think I'd prefer to wear a different model.

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Go to: Birthday greetings - for a change, or
Go to: Burning memories.