The Goods: If The Shoe Fits, Write On It

EVERY edgy pastime eventually loses some of its outlaw luster, thanks to corporate Americas proficiency at borrowing lingo and imagery from the underground. Consider tagging, the act of covertly spray-painting nicknames and slangy messages on walls. Different from graffiti in that it refers primarily to script, not artwork, tagging is the sort of rebellious hobby that disaffected teenagers love and strait-laced adults abhor.

This week: Stock market volatility, ranking the investment banks, restoring the music in New Orleans, rebalancing a portfolio.

Yet tagging is the inspiration behind a new line of childrens footwear, called Graffeeti. The canvas shoes, packaged in boxes made to look like brick walls splashed with tags, are covered in strips of white plastic; these strips can be written on, and the scrawls can then be erased with a fingertip or tissue. The slogan stamped into each shoes outsole —Tag ... Youre It!— suggests that, like tattooing and tongue-piercing, some aspects of tagging may be well past their subversive heyday.

Graffeeti is the brainchild of Kelye McKinney and Jim Mulligan, two civil engineers in Rocklin, Calif. The two co-workers had long discussed starting a business together but could never find the right concept to pursue. That changed in June 2005, when Ms. McKinney had a brainstorm about a new product: a shoe that functions like one of the dry-erase boards she often uses to diagram projects for clients.

After confirming that such a product was not already on the market, Ms. McKinney and Mr. Mulligan started cobbling together a prototype, using tongues, soles and heels from off-the-shelf shoes. The tough part was finding a suitable dry-erase material to place atop the canvas bodies.

Patent leather works well, but its very expensive, Mr. Mulligan said. He and Ms. McKinney instead chose a slick, shiny plastic that doesnt easily ghost— that is, retain faint tracings of past scribblings.

In February 2006, Mr. Mulligan and Ms. McKinney took their first prototype — actually an open-toed sandal — to a World Shoe Association trade show in Las Vegas. They parlayed connections made at that show into a relationship with a Florida shoe designer, who advised them to abandon the sandal and focus on sneakers. The sneaker market, Mr. Mulligan said, is considered easier for childrens footwear start-ups to crack. (According to the NPD Group, a marketing research firm, the childrens footwear industry had sales of $5.7 billion in the 12 months ended in May.)

Ms. McKinney and Mr. Mulligan revamped their design, adding such features as a fabric loop to hold a dry-erase pen. They also used Chinese-made pens that are nontoxic and large enough not to be choking hazards.

While waiting for their first batch of shoes to arrive from China, Ms. McKinney and Mr. Mulligan developed Graffeetis marketing plan, which makes clear the shoes connection to street art. As the shoeboxes announce in a font that mimics the look of spray-painted scribblings, the shoes are geared toward young consumers who want to go beyond the wall with their artwork.

Mindful of taggings poor reputation among law-abiding parents, however, Ms. McKinney and Mr. Mulligan placed an important disclaimer on their Web site, Graffeeti.com, stating that they do not condone the destructive practice of graffiti on public property.

The first Graffeeti sneakers, which come in high-top and low-top models, went on sale in May. They cost $31.99 a pair for childrens sizes and $35.99 for junior sizes; each pair comes with six dry-erase pens. The shoes can be bought on Graffeetis Web site and at several stores in Northern California, including Hot Feet in Capitola Village and Old School Shoes in Santa Cruz.

Mr. Mulligan says his nascent company is developing a dry-erase backpack, along with other products that will allow budding taggers to hone their skills without risking arrest.

Tag Cloud

External Information

Additional Information

Where Am I?