Anything Crayola sounds like fun! As does anything Vans!
But Vans X Crayola…? Wow!

Incorporating some of their most classic styles, Vans has team up with Crayola to bring you the new Vans Colored By Crayola collection of back-to-school mischief shoes.

Personal favorites include the ever-popular Sk8-Hi’s available in both his & hers pink and blue:

and the forever-classic Classics, available in blue, pink, purple, red & yellow:

The icing on the cake here is that each pair comes with a Vans x Crayola coloring book. The cherry on that icing is that you can nab the coloring book online immediately!, here or click the image below.

Pick’m up on the Vans website, or of course on Amazon.com.

Once just “the flying tomato”, now a household name through his near-flawless Olympic golds in snowboarding, Shaun White teamed up with retail giant Target in 2008 for a signature “action sport -inspired” clothing range. Presumably due to success, they have now expanded this to include footwear, on shelves in July.

“It’s been a lot of fun working with Target for the past few years on my clothing line,” said Shaun.  “I’m excited to have the opportunity to bring some authentic skate shoes into the mix.”

We dropped in for a peek, and although they’re definately no Lakai or Emerica, they’re not too shabby.

Available at Target, of course, or online.

Kickin’ it with your favorite cartoon colabo: adidas X Mr.Men!

adidas has teamed up with the Mr. Men Show (remember the little books…) to produce a his and hers colabo sneaker with their ever popular Superstar 2 model.

Click the images for links to the items.

And for the littlest ones, a infant model:

If you dig these, then you’ll love the New Balance colabo range with Sesame Street!

Kickin’ it with your favorite TV characters: New Balance X Sesame Street!

New Balance and Sesame Street have teamed up to release a fantastic collection of their classic 574 model with all your favorite Sesame Street characters! Can you believe how cool these are…?!

New Balance never has this type of info on their website (sport only), so you’ll have to dig through Amazon and similar online shopping portals. Click the images for links to the items.

It may not be possible to look as effortlessly cool as Gwen Stefani, but now that her L.A.M.B brand has a line of kids shoes, perhaps we can live vicariously through the coolness of our children!

And with high-tops making a big come-back as the ‘must have’ shoe, we’ve picked a few of our L.A.M.B favorites:

Or if you want your little hipster to look just like Kingston (after all, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery):

For the lady of the house, who wants to look feminine while still funky:

And finally, while harder to keep clean, white does seem to go with everything:

Check out the complete range of kids shoes by L.A.M.B at www.lambshoes.com

And stay tuned for more on the return of the high-tops in coming posts!

Kids rain boots from Vincent.

I still have a faint recollection of that carefree feeling you had as a kid when you donned your rain boots and jumped in puddles!  As an adult, the first thing you worry about is getting your pants wet; as a kid you eliminate that worry by taking your pants off!

(Here’s a great shot of my nephew enjoying the after effects of an autumn rain storm, complete with rain boots… and, of course, no pants!)

Whether you’re in the northern or southern hemisphere, the change of seasons usually brings the rain. So we’ve found a selection of rain boots from Vincent (another great brand we met at the latest Children’s Club show in NYC).

Each with a different all-over animal print, I particularly love the blue elephants. And the handles make them easy for kids to get on:

Or for a bit of fun, these frog rain boots are fantastic:

For the lady of the house who prefers to dance in puddles with some feminine style:

Or for some psychedelic retro styles:

And lastly, not forgetting about your miniest & funkiest of minihipsters:

So get your rain boots on and start splashing!

When I was growing up Down Under, Uggs were an essential part of  my closet.  The only thing is, Uggs were worn as slippers – to keep your feet toasty and warm inside the house, and most definitely not worn on the street!  Here we are 25+ years later, and I see Ugg’s as an essential part of street fashion for big and mini hipsters alike!

For example, check out little Harlow here in Manhattan earlier this winter:

UGG Australia is now owned by Deckers Outdoor Corporation, and very much a part of American culture as they are Australian.  And I’m very impressed with how stylish they’ve become.  My childhood Uggs only came in one style – and that was straight off the sheeps back (or Classic as they now call it):

While the Classic is still…classic, there are so many great styles that will keep your little hipster’s feet warm while still looking great.  My favorites:

For the boys – the Blue Camo Classic:

For the girls- the Classic Flower:

Or something lighter for summer, the LoPro Denim:

And to keep your miniest of minihipsters feet warm and cozy, the Infant Ugg:

And to keep those Uggs looking clean and fresh, check out Michelle Kouzmine’s guide on How to clean Ugg boots.

I think opinions are quite divided on Crocs.
Or should I be more specific, Crocs for kids. I cannot get over how many children I see walking the streets in these plastic ‘clog’ styles shoes. It’s a phenomenon!

I personally don’t like them for my children at all. I don’t let them wear them out shopping or at the playground or generally in public if I can help it. However I do like them for swimming lessons as my children can slip them straight onto their feet without the fuss of drying and shoes and socks. BUT, I must say my children love their Crocs. They would wear them all the time if they could; easy to take on and off, the colors are bright and they often come with their favorite Dora or Diego or other licensed shoe charms.
I can’t really blame them…

I recently asked several carers at a child care center what they thought about Crocs. The unanimous verdict was a negative. Apparently the children’s feet are not given any support and they have trouble climbing and running around in them and often trip over.
Interesting!

Well regardless of whether we love them or hate them, the company itself is extremely clever. They really have created the most amazing and popular shoes for adults and children of all time, out of a plastic clog!
They are profitable – revenue for the 2008 year was at $721.6 million! There’s a Crocs blog, an online community, a fan club, a facebook page, a flickr page, they even sponsor the AVP Pro Beach Volley Ball Tour.
I could keep going…

But most importantly, they have started the “Soles United” Program, whereby all your donated used Crocs are recycled, cleaned, ground down and made into a brand new pair of Crocs that are then donated to poor countries in Africa, South America and Asia. Another phenomenal idea that is making a difference throughout the world. Perhaps for this program alone I could keep buying them.

Tell us, do you love them or hate them?
I would love to know, where do your children wear their Crocs?

(image courtesy of Vans)

I was born in the early 70’s, and my shoe staple growing up was a pair of Clark’s.  Admittedly, Clark’s are now much cooler than they were 30+ years ago (having even done colabos with high profile graffiti-artist-come-designers like Stash and Futura), but I’m envious of today’s kids who won’t be laughing their bell bottoms off when they look at pictures of their childhood… Kids trainers (or “kicks”, for those in the know), are now just as cool as the grown up versions.

Check out these recent MiniHipsters in their kicks:

Dexter in his checkerboard Vans slip-ons, in one color or another a staple of every minihipsters shoe collection.

Luke in his classic adidas Superstars, modernized with a funky colorful camo print.

And Issys in her very cool limited edition high-top Valentines Day release retro Nike Air Jordan 1 (available here).
(a slick low-top alternative to these are the ever-popular classic Nike Air Force 1, very nice in pink and white!)

Kicks for your minihipster now come in a whole range of cool!

If you gave me a time-machine, the following selection would be my favorites – plus it would give me the chance to beg my mother not to put me in that bright yellow turtle neck with brown flair cords which always features in my childhood photos!

FOR THE GIRLS.

Skate-inspired: the Vans Bubble Heart Mercer (left) and the DVS Revival Splat pre-schoolers (right).

Clean & simple: check out these elastics from adidas, the Midiru 2 CL sneaker (left), or the retro styled “Little Kid” Basket Basic V from Puma (right).

Color full: for those that like their kicks to grab some attention, how about these Reebok Versas (left) or these
rainbow colored Dunk lows (above right) – the latter also good for the little man who has that little bit more confidence with his footwear!

FOR THE BOYS.

Sk8: the all-time best selling skate shoe from Vans, the Half Cab (left), now available in youth sizing!!! I’m sure there’s many dads out there that will be buying these as much for their own reminiscent enjoyment as for their boys…
Skate shoes don’t have to look like’m, as these Volitant Ox from Converse show (above right).

Retro: how about and these skate-inspired numbers from the Puma Archives (left) – the Little Frankie is a very cool little kick!
This adidas Superstar 2 always brings RUN DMC to mind (with a smile & the “My adidas” tune bouncin round my head…), but these funky little green Polka Dots colorway (above right) are way more suited to the minihipster of the 21st century.

Ltd: these limited edition Nike Air Max CL (Premium) are hot! But best for the summer months when the street mud can’t taint their fresh whiteness… And with this bad-ass rooster painting on the top, the little mans bound to have the flashest (and scariest) kicks on the block!

Get your Kicks on!