We are very proud to announce that we will host the upcoming Red Wing Shoes exhibition 'Memoirs, Good Old Boots'. The exhibition shows the story of fifteen pairs of worn out Red Wing boots and the life of their owners. Amongst many others the visitors will get to know all about the Red Wing boots of a Norwegian fisherman, two bikers from the United States and a rock band from Sweden. Each Red Wing pair shows a 'history' and a unique insight into the lives of the owners.
Red Wing Shoes Amsterdam will proudly launch the Dutch chapter of this exhibition on the 2nd of February. More soon.
We found another old cabinet photo of a group of miners in the Jack Possum Mine, Wentworth, Missouri. There's not much information on this mine, but with a little research we found out that it was owned by Smith & Hodges Mining Co. and was one of the largest in that area around 1915 to dig for sphalerite, the most common zinc ore.
It's a beautiful picture that breaths the dark underground atmosphere, the young brave men wearing heavy boots, denim overalls and dungarees accompanied by a hinny on the right for the real heavy work. A great addition to our growing collection.
When we started the Red Wing Shoes store Amsterdam I started collecting bank bags, and although I didn't started a real collection before I completely lost myself on ebay, searching for vintage bank bags, leather deposit bags and other vintage bank related pieces. The collection is still growing but I forced myself to put the energy in something worth sharing here. And a new collection was born.
Together with Menno we're now putting together a collection of vintage photographs of people wearing denim (for Tenue de Nîmes) and images of rail-, mine-, and factory workers for the Red Wing Shoes store Amsterdam. It's an amazing source of inspiration, and they will probably make it into a publication, but until then we will share some here.
We are always happy to see it's getting colder, we love the winter, the short days and adventurous trips in the snow and on the ice. Yesterday I received this photo in the mail with a beautiful monologue on why it was so special. About the composition, the different tones of grey, but primarily about the mess and the huddle on the deck. How on earth could they sail in this kind of mess between the floes and ice bergs, what was the story behind it, who was it?
The only thing we know is that it was a crew member of one of Bob Barlett's expeditions to the Arctic, taking a movie of ice berg off the bow of the ship, Greenland, 1939 (Smithsonian Institution Archives)
A truly amazing image, and definitely one that feeds our desire to sail between these floes and ice bergs ! (Thank you Ferry for sharing!)
A while ago the International Business Times put together an amazing set of images from the Depression Era. 'These vivid color photos from the Great Depression and World War II capture an era generally seen only in black-and-white. Photographers working for the United States Farm Security Administration (FSA) and later the Office of War Information (OWI) created the images between 1939 and 1944.' Simply beautiful! (More here and here)
Yes, it is better in the wind! Scott Toepfer finally put online the full length short movy ‘It's Better In The Wind’. For the last two years he have been taking still photographs for a personal project entitled 'It's Better In The Wind,' all the while collecting video footage from each ride as they traveled around the Western United States together. The result is this lovely short movie, in his own words ‘just a collection of imagery that will hopefully inspire more people to take to the road and discover what there is outside of our respective communities.’ It does inspire us! Especially with the tunes of Chuck Ragan on the background - the only thing I want is hop on that bike, and hit the road….
