Shoefitr lands $1.2M to sell best-fitting shoes

09.02.12

There is a culture curve for a lot of things in life -- cooking, book, public speaking -- but one thing I never seem to get better at is picking the make up for pair of shoes that will fit well, look good and be functional. 

Toe-pinching, end blistering and unsupported-arch woes hurt all of us the same. But a callow Pitssburg-based tech company called Shoefitr has created a way to absorb the pressures of picking the right kicks and is doing so with an additional $1.2 million in funding .

Vigorous Financial LLC and BlueTree Allied Angels led in the dash to up the first round of funding, along with Innovation Works, for the AlphaLab alumni body.

Source: VatorNews

Time to carve up the worst fashion fads

09.02.12

Before the serious mellow of Black Friday power shopping, holiday decorating, strength-picking overload and end-of-the-year time crunches takes its pealing, let's sit back and reflect on something that's not so serious.</p><p> We give you the Fifth Annual Fashion Turkey Awards. These are items that galvanize our mirth. These are items we consider fads in the worst nous of the word - popular for being popular, worn without consideration and therefore uninspired. In knee-breeches, these are trends we wish would go away.</p><p> First on our list is HairUWear or any other difference of the oddly hued clip-on wiglets. The last straw for us in ushering this merchandise onto our list of 2011 Fashion Turkeys was the introduction of the uncultured print extension. The 1-inch clip-in extensions ($10) are in shades of neon pink, ginger and moving blue tiger stripes. We didn't actually desire the Native American vibe of the clip-in feathers (until there were reports of feather shortages and people raiding fishing shops to clothing lures), but this is the usual modus operandi of a fashion turkey.</p><p> People don't be informed when to say when. If a slim feather is nice, a neon purple tiger length must be better, right? Wrong. This must stop now, or we'll have people with faux dinosaur bones hanging from their hair's breadth next. The feathers had a moment. That moment has officially expired. Anything else is neutral too painful to consider.</p><p> And speaking of painful, the latest shape fad term is "jweats," and if you're thinking "oh, no, it can't be" then you've perhaps guessed that this is a jeans-sweatpant hybrid. We're sorry to name names you that you can now purchase Diesel Jogg jeans ($195). Plainly jeggings (jean leggings) just weren't dubious enough. Considering that jeans are already leisure attire, I'm not sure why we needed to prepare them more comfy.</p><p> If you're in the market for jeans that look like sweatpants, you'll indubitably love my new line of cocktail dresses that look like cock night gowns. We here on the fashion turkey team don't believe that sweatpants should be worn outside of the confines of your house. Making them out of denim doesn't switch that, and in fact it makes it worse. J Brand's premium denim outline also introduced a denim hybrid of stretchy slip-on pants and Joe's Jean Sweats ($158, the most beneficent of the worst) are sweatpants in fabric only, but the styling mimics unwritten denim. However, this all just reminds us of last year's Hall of Prominence fashion turkey - the pajama jean (denim-like pajamas that allegedly mutation from REM sleep to a shopping trip at your local mall, if you don't note people pointing and staring).</p><p> Among the shoe trends that we light of one's life to hate are peep-toe, combat boots. Some are embellished with studs and maximum heels, some are flat with straps and ties. I'm sure somewhere the contradictions of this look are what draw people. It's edgy, they think. Instead we call this self-consciously hip ... i.e., tragically overdone.</p><p> The view of these shoes and the tortured ensemble that must accompany them is not what fashion should be. It's not a self-softness, it's a blatant display of "look how cool I am," you can see my toes in my disagreement boots. "Get it, combat boots are supposed to be hard, but I wear them with a fresh pedicure." There is a girl who can leave these off, but something tells us that she is waiting for everyone else to stop wearing these shoes before she pulls them out of her closet again.</p><p> Paste surgery gone mad. Maybe it's the ubiquitousness of Carson Kressley and the legions of people with immobile foreheads and extraordinarily taunt facial skin, but plastic surgery is noticeably booming. The key parley there is "noticeably." Maybe the clients are insensible, or maybe they plain don't care, but they should know that we are disturbed by the be biased, and we probably aren't the only ones. If you have had your boobs, eyes, cheeks altered, more than one in the flesh has noticed. We discuss it openly but probably not with you, we don't think any ill of you, but it's the rare-rare-rare exclusion that this piece of gossip ends with, "...and she/he looks so top."</p><p> This year we were introduced to chintox (yep, Botox for unappealing chins), umbilicoplasty (belly button surgery - get the innie you always wanted, the depress release touts "create a more youthful looking belly button") and dimple plasty (yes, you can have the "quintessential cunning facial feature"). These procedures are estimated at $2,000 to $5,000. We can about of many more fulfilling and self-affirming things to do with that kind of investment. If you can't suppose of any, I'll be happy to consult for a nominal fee.</p><p> And to round out this year's turkeys of extravagance, I give you another watch gone wrong. One of the Jacob &#38; Co watches sported by David Beckham, who mostly dresses quite impeccably. It costs $10,800 and has not one, not two, not three, not... OK, it has five skinned for faces on it and five watch stems to wind each of the five faces. FIVE. Patently, it's so that you can keep up with five different time zones. But who needs to walk around with the enrage fail from Grand Central Station on their wrist?</p><p> I asked a guy cohort to look at a photo of the pentagon-shaped watch, and he was not appalled. In act, he kind of liked it. He admired its masculine heft. Our turkey scouting commission was not swayed by this. This watch is ridiculous. It loses its function as a take note of when you have to carefully consider which one is set to your time zone. The tiny dials are all the same extent, although each is marked with city labels, such as "Toyko," "L.A.," "New York" and "Paris." But common knowledge on, really? Isn't that what iPhone apps are for? We love a statement keep a sharp lookout for, it's the most prominent piece of jewelry a typical guy can subscribe to, but you don't penury to make this statement.</p><p> Well, now that we've gotten that off our chests, let's gander at our 2011 The rage Swans. Trends tend to balance out from year to year and comprehensive, we're happy that, in our estimation at least, the good trends are still winning (and, no, not in a Charlie Shininess kinda way).</p><p> - New sweater shapes. We are loving the pacific knits with asymmetrical hems, sleeves that bell and fit, and the nontraditional cowl-meets-sailing-yacht necks. A particular favorite is anything cashmere like this batch from Garnet Hill ($158) in an asymmetrical shape that shuns all squares. It has three-board sleeves and a flattering tunic length. The right mix of fix and relax.</p><p> - Bali retro high-waisted half sliver. Shapewear continues to have a moment, and if it's the go-to staple of every Hollywood starlet, who are we to keep it. Many of them are so enthused that they are wearing their undies as outerwear. (That's definitely a turkey, even if you're a escarpment star. People look better in bottoms that aren't consistency suits. Yes, even Beyonce and Lady Gaga.)</p><p> - Capes. What's not to adoration about a flattering outer layer that is warm and cozy. It's technically a mini-slanket without the sleeves, but we're not focusing on that. We're troubled. It looks great with elbow-length leather gloves and that makes it wonderful in our eyes. Some spar that they aren't the most flattering item, but after a few holiday dinners this might be the most adulatory item we own.</p><p> - Wool jacket/leather sleeves. Representation us up. Actually, any of the contrast sleeving going on is fine with us. It's a abundant way to change a silhouette. Wool coats and casual jackets with unexpected sleeves in another colour of wool or a different texture than the body have a slightly futuristic look that tends to soil on the right side of the swan/turkey divide.

Source: Kansas City Star