When the Earth Shoe was brought to America in 1970, its advertising campaign promised to bring wearers closer to nature. With "negative" heels that sat lower than the front, Earth Shoes claimed to offer wearers a more natural posture, closer to aboriginal human locomotion. The shoes were a startling multi-million dollar success for two reasons. First, the back-to-nature promise of Earth Shoes resonated with members of the burgeoning environmental movement. Second, the boxy appearance of the shoe was viewed as an antifashion statement; as such, it was a social statement favoring simplicity over image, substance over style. In time the square, broad shape of the Earth Shoe was emulated in a wide range of other shoes; for a few years its look became a hallmark style of the 1970s.

Further Reading:

Kennedy, Pagan. Platforms: A Microwaved Cultural Chronicle of the 1970s. New York, St. Martin's, 1994.

Lauer, Jeanette C. Fashion Power: The Meaning of Fashion in American Society. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, Prentice-Hall, 1981.

Lofaro, Lina. "The Fate of the Earth Shoe." Time. May 1, 1995, 32.

Trasko, Mary. Heavenly Soles: Extraordinary Twentieth Century Shoes. New York, Abbeyville Press, 1989.