Celebrating 4orty Years of Fluevog

The ad in Utne Reader stopped me short. “Celebrating 4orty Years of Fluevog,” said the little crosshead. (Cute, how more and more folks use numbers as letters.) The shoe photo was like the screaming siren that pulled me over, though—a yellow alligator flat, maybe quasi-alligator, with a silver buckle and a toe that could rival a Swedish steel razor. “Feet that turn heads,” said the tagline. Indeed.

Fluevog, a shoemaker with stores in major US and Canadian cities, tells quite a story on the Web. Oddly, despite the print ad, the sprawling site has no link to the company’s anniversary, not even in the Flueseum—though if you drill down far enough, you’ll find a line of 40th anniversary reissued styles. And there’s a subtle little “40 Years” logo as sharp as the shoe’s toe. I guess they didn’t run with their anniversary because most of these shoes and boots, cool as they are, are better for walking. www.fluevog.com