Hi-tech athletic footwear is all about the elusive custom fit—the notion that some elaborate permutation of gels and foam will make your rank, sweaty sneaker a singular shoe. But Bless, a European label that works against “mass individuality and its hidden dangers,” etc., etc., has actually made good on this absurd promise with what they simply call “customized footwear.” Three hundred dollars gets you a pair of New Balance soles (plus a rather tony set of Charles Jourdan pumps) stitched to Vetrat, a stretchy material mainly favoured by doctors for treating sprained joints. You pull, tape, twist, and paste the fabric to suit your foot, and end up with a shoe that looks like something an urban Sherpa would wear. “The inspiration came from the material,” says Parisian-based Bless cofounder Desiree Heiss (who cryptically defines the typical Bless consumer as someone who “has no nationality, and thinks sport is quite nice”). “We needed to connect the material to a fixed form, so working with a shoe was quite evident.” Available in boutiques in New York, L.A., and major European cities, the shoes have a limited run, and 100 of the 250 available worldwide have been sold already. “Somebody asked me if this will be a whole trend, but I don’t think so,” Heiss says realistically. “As much as I like the idea of not just consuming something, most people can’t spend another hour before they go out. They want something that’s already ready.”
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