Source: courant.com

By WENDY DONAHUE

Chicago Tribune

June 30, 2007

No one stuffs a baby’s pudgy piggies into stiletto pumps.

But the thought probably has crossed designers’ minds.

A baby-shoe boom has sent the classic white leather booties toddling into the bronzed sunset. Wiggling into their place are skater-boy Vans, trendy metallic Umi sandals and music-mogul gold sneakers from Gwen Stefani’s L.A.M.B. brand.

Even Italian icons such as Roberto Cavalli ($169 a pair) and Giorgio Armani are playing footsie – at sugar-daddy prices.

Can mini-Manolos be far behind?
(more…)

Source: The Wall Street Journal Online
By RAY A. SMITH
June 30, 2007; Page P7

Men browsing expensive shoe aisles this fall may notice a new line of luxurious oxfords with pre-aged leather and hand-stitched detailing for $150. The exotic new entrant: Hush Puppies, a brand best known for 1950s-era, brushed suede shoes that sell for $40.

As part of a general move upmarket, many midtier shoemakers are adding touches more commonly found in luxury brands. Bostonian, where top-of-the-line shoes previously cost $140, is debuting a new Luxe line, which is made in Italy with “antiqued leather” and costs $170. Johnston & Murphy’s new handmade Italian shoes start at $225 — more than double its usual starting price. At Rockport, which made its name selling comfortable casual shoes, 40% of its fall collection will be dress shoes, up from 20% this spring.

(more…)

If you’ve been taken aback by the hype around Wal-Mart stores and their products, think again. Here is someone who is not too pleased with their shoe selection.

Click here for more.

Danish footwear firm Ecco is investing in a second Thai production plant, according to reports in local press.

Source: National Retail Federation

–Companies Lost 1.61% of Sales to Theft, Fraud–

San Diego, June 11, 2007 – As retailers continue to invest in new programs and technology to combat crime in their stores, dollar losses from theft and fraud have reached an all-time high. The preliminary results of the latest National Retail Security Survey were released today at the National Retail Federation’s Loss Prevention Conference and EXPO. Dr. Richard Hollinger, a professor at the University of Florida, will release the full survey in a session tomorrow at the conference. The survey found that retail shrinkage* averaged 1.61 percent of retail sales last year, nearly unchanged from 1.60 percent in 2005.
(more…)

Source: The Motley Fool – Fool.com

Rick Aristotle Munarriz
June 29, 2007

Sanity may finally be kicking in at Heelys (Nasdaq: HLYS). The maker of the popular rolling footwear with pop-out wheels won’t go through with its planned secondary offering.

Good call. It was dumb to announce a wave of defecting insiders — all of the shares offered in the secondary came from insiders cashing out — on the same day the company hosed down its near-term prospects.

(more…)

Vietnam’s footwear exports to European Union (EU) in the first five months of 2007 have slumped in both value and volume due to the anti-dumping duties imposed on leather shoes.

(InternetRetailer.com)On average, only 66% of merchants and other organizations involved in processing payment card data encrypt that data for transmission over the Internet, compared to 100% among best-in-class organizations, research and advisory firm Aberdeen Group says in a new study, “Protecting Cardholder Data.” (more…)

“Beat Yesterday,” a book, first published in 1888 by Walter Jessurun and used by F.W. Woolworth, Ben Franklin stores, J.C. -More-

(InternetRetailer.com)PayPal Inc. is offering secure key
technology through an electronic token that generates a unique security
code approximately every 30 seconds. Members can use this code, along
with their user name and password, to sign into both their eBay Inc.
and PayPal accounts, all in the name of preventing unauthorized access.

Called the PayPal Security Key, the
technology uses two-factor authentication to protect consumers and
reduce losses from online fraud such as phishing attacks. The key
carries a one-time fee of $5 for PayPal and eBay account holders in the
U.S. The technology soon also will be available in Germany and
Australia, PayPal says, with more countries to follow.
(more…)