Ron White is poised to make a very big shoe name for himself.
With his from-the-ground-up original collection of All Day Heels, the CEO and creative director of Ron White shoes has caught the attention of sexy star Kim Cattrall, as well as Sarah Ferguson, the Duchess of York, and Luciana Barroso, otherwise known as Mrs. Matt Damon. “They’ve all got All Day Heels on order,” he said excitedly in an interview with Metro.
White actually launched his all-day heels concept eight years ago when he opened his first Ron White shop (there are now six GTA locations, and ronwhite.ca ships globally).
Putting an orthotics and biomechanics background to good use, he started a collaboration with designers such as Stuart Weitzman, Donald Pliner and Thierry Rabotin, adjusting some of their fashionable footwear designs to his optimal-comfort specifications. “I’d tweak a shoe’s construction for more flexibility in order to reduce leg fatigue, the outsole for improved cushioning, and the heel shape for more stability,” he explained. “The body has to work twice as hard to stay steady when the total surface of the heel where it meets the ground is no bigger than a pencil tip.”
This season marks the debut of the official All Day Heels line, which took three years of development, prototypes and trials. Getting the name registered took just as long; apparently the trademark office in the U.S. had initially thought “all-day heels” was an existing category of shoes, like “cross-trainers,” and therefore ineligible for trademarking.
Most of the handmade-in-Italy collection features durable Vibram rubber soles “as thin as leather but with amazing cushioning,” and thin, lightweight insoles made of Poron, a flexible, high-tech elastic polymer developed by NASA.
“It has an air-bubble construction that never compresses,” gushed White. “After five years of wear, it retains 97 per cent of its cushioning.” You won’t necessarily see Poron as a separate, Ron White quick-fix insole for ordinary shoes, however. White maintains that all-day comfort has to take everything into account: Design, sole, insole and upper materials, as well as construction. Sounds like a recipe — a recipe for success.
