Simple Shoes

I went into this retail store at the Sunset Junction called something Kicks today. They sell Obey T-shirts, Nike shoes and other hipster brands. Included in their selective brand list are "Simple" shoes- a brand that prides itself on the use of sustainable materials and all that other great stuff that will save our environment. What caught my attention (which I failed to take a picture of) was the display that Simple shoes had provided to the company. It looked like a shelf with jars and inside each jar was a natural resource which Simple uses to produce their shoes. This included organic cotton, hemp, recycled car tires, suede, bamboo and recycled inner tubers.

It was very creative, visually eye-catching, and you didn't need to read a tag as to why you should buy this sustainable product, it just got to the point immediately... it was Simple. But wait, there's more... a patron in the store picked up the jar with the "hemp" in it and asked the employee what it was. The employee said "hemp" of course, and the lost customer was enraged and started yelling at him. The hemp was actually made of plastic which is somewhat ironic considering that plastic is not hemp nor is it sustainable. To me, it really didn't matter, I mean... could you even save hemp in a jar without is going bad? I figured it's just a nice display trying to get the point across and as long as the shoes are really made of hemp (or whatever natural material the brand claims) then who really cares... apparently this guy does. Unfortunately he took his concern up with the guy trying to make a simple living selling t-shirts instead of the company. While he was completely out-of-line is was still very ironic.