I’m not entirely convinced yet about the motives of the Blackspot Shoes, which are part of the “Adbusters” organization. The philosophy behind it is Open Source Shoes:

People were jaded by megacorporate control of so much of their lives, but couldn’t see how they might take some power back… The result is the world’s first open-source brand: Blackspot Shoes. Earth-friendly, cruelty-free, made by a small, union shop in Portugal, Blackspots represent a radical, no-compromise experiment. The ultimate goal is to break the monopolies of giant corporations, and create a new kind of grassroots capitalism.

They currently have two shoes, the Blackspot Unswoosher and The Classic Blackspot Sneaker. By “unswoosher”, they’re targeting Nike. Pretty funny. The sneakers include a 100% organic hemp upper and are designed by John Fluevog. I’m not sure about the philosophy yet: it sure is easy to take swipes at the big corporate shoe companies. And the adbusters website seems pretty “corporate” in itself. As for the shoes, besides the blank logo and the fact that they’re made by a smaller union shop - what’s the end difference?

More about Blackspot Shoes.