Veteran Day Giveaway - My Dad will Rock!

We received so many wonderful entries for this giveaway - thank you to everyone who participated! Of all the submissions we received for veterans and active military personnel, the lucky winner (randomly chosen) was Wilson, Lt. Commander Retired, US Navy. His entry was submitted by his daughter Theresa who wrote this lovely entry:

My Dad would enjoy a pair of mocs because....
not only did my father serve his country for more than 20 years of active duty, he also helped raise 10 wonderful children (of which I am the youngest). He taught us to appreciate the simple things in life, to see the unique details of everyday things, and to ask questions and wonder about how things work. My dad is in his seventies and I know he'd wear a pair of Soft Star Elves shoes with a great big smile on his face, telling everyone he saw that his daughter submitted his name into a drawing for free mocs and he won! My dad would rock your mocs!

Congratulations Lt. Commander Wilson!!

What is your vote?

Soft Star fans have been requesting a more "boyish" option for their moccasins and shoes.

Here are a few options we are considering - what is your vote?

Plane - Rocket Ship - Car - Truck


A big thanks to Caroline M. for the lovely car :-)

Update: Thanks for the great comments! I certainly did not mean to offend anyone with positioning these as "boyish" motifs - certainly these motifs work great for all. As a parent I always try to avoid gender stereotyping but this was a good reminder to me. The first sentence should have read: "...fans have been requesting more options..." My apologies!

To Halloween and Beyond...

Halloween is fast approaching and I've been hard a work on our Toy Story themed costumes. The Buzz space boots have been done for a while and now the Woody cowboy boots are done too. I just hope the rest of the costumes can keep up with the amazing boots! And while the Buzz boots are crazy colors, Kahlil loves them and I expect they will get lots of wear this winter.

Which comes first, the running or the fun?

Like the proverbial chicken and the egg, is it the barefoot running that makes people happy, or are naturally happy people the type to experiment with barefoot running?

Thanks to our friend Dalit for the heads up on this recent article in the New York Times: "Is Running Barefoot Better for You?". In a nutshell, the author, Gretchen Reynolds positions it as a trendy new fad which has little scientific basis for or against... but that it can be "a lot of fun".

Personally I enjoyed the reader comments - I was even inspired to leave my own insight that Soft Star Shoes customers tend to be very fun, positive people.... is it their happy feet that makes them this way, or are happy people just attracted to comfortable, barefoot-like shoes? Hmmmmm....

Photo credit: Paul Glamou / Getty Images from NY Times article Oct. 21, 2009.

Post Office plays Ping Pong

At Soft Star Shoes, we love the Post Office... they are reliable and fast. However, once and a while errors do happen, ... and this one has us all scratching our heads.

Check out the tracking information on the package we are trying to get to a customer in Brooklyn, NY. The shoes arrive, get sent back to Portland, go back to Brooklyn, then back to Portland, then back to Brooklyn... and apparently are still playing coast-to-coast ping pong a month later!

The Post Office also does not know what is happening! My guess is a programmer with a penchant for mischief hid an "Easter egg" in their bar code tracking software so that someone with a lucky bar code gets caught in the paddles of it trap.... hmmmmm. Your thoughts?

Even Santa likes Bare Feet!

At Soft Star Shoes we have many barefoot runners as our loyal fans for when they "have" to wear shoes... but we never knew Santa was a barefoot runner... Who would have guessed his feet get claustrophobic in those big black boots?

From the Associated Press:
Santa O Clause from Australia runs in bare feet in the heats of the 80-84 year-old class of the men's 100 meters during the Masters Games, in Sydney, Australia, Sunday, Oct. 11, 2009.

(AP Photo/Rick Rycroft)

Space Ranger Boots!

We are getting ready for Halloween and 4 yr old Kahlil has been wanting to be Buzz Lightyear since March! Lucky for him, Mom can whip up a pair of Space Ranger Boots to complete his costume. The Elves LOVE EM!! He recruited all of the family into being his entourage at Halloween - stay tuned for Woody, Jessie, Zurg and Buzz.