Lucha Shoes--Personal Fight With Your Feet

Each pair of Lucha shoes can be personalized to help you remember what you're fighting for. When you see someone else wearing Lucha shoes, please ask them what they're fighting for. The more you talk about something, the more you remember it, and the more ideas you'll have on how you can fight your good fight. Fight With Your Feet.

I have recently personalized my Lucha shoes for two different things. First of all, I'm fighting for Rachel Steele and her fight with Leukemia. Second of all, I'm fighting for regular exercise. I need to do it more, and I feel like most people need to exercise more--whether it's simply running or lifting weights, or getting out and playing a game, hiking, riding a bike, etc. These latter examples are my favorite kinds of exercise. When people ask me if I like running, I usually reply that I like running if I'm chasing a ball. I love being active and I love how good I feel when I'm doing it. I'm passionate about it. I believe that physical health correlates directly with emotional and mental health.

Fight for your education, fight for civil rights, fight for your political beliefs, fight for your right to party (thank you Beastie Boys), fight for a team you play on, fight for a team you cheer for, fight for your school, fight for a band you love, fight your mother-in-law (kidding, kind of...), fight your weaknesses, fight for spiritual growth, fight bad karma, fight temptations, fight pollution, fight global warming, fight against child prostitution, fight for clean energy, fight the BCS, fight for a cancer cure, fight HIV. The possibilities are endless. Leave a comment and tell us what you're fighting for.

Use your Lucha shoes to show what you're passionate about. What are you fighting for? Fight with your feet. Lucha shoes.

Luchas Save Lives

On the fifth of July, after playing some beach volleyball, swimming, and before enjoying two barbecues, I found time to experience for the first time the Alpine bike jump. This was as thrilling and adrenaline pumping as it gets. The first video is my roommate (a seasoned bike jump veteran), then the second video is me almost botching the approach (which has given countless people broken bones, concussions, black eyes, swollen faces, etc.), and the third video is me nailing the jump.




All in all I jumped 4 times--with three perfectly successful jumps, but the botched approach could have been bad--had I not been wearing my Lucha shoes! These were the perfect recipe for saving my 27 year old life. The combination of the Lucha shoes' good grip, form fitting, and better than flip-flop protection and stability enabled me to discard the out of control bike, and run safely into the pond. We're fighting for a better shoe at a better price.

Fight With Your Feet. Lucha Shoes.

Mike

Durability and Comfort

Greetings Lucha lovers! We’ve been working hard to produce the best alpargata. We have studied several different materials and manufacturing processes and feel that we will be making a very comfortable and very durable alpargata.

We started off by finding a reliable and professional factory to help us develop our shoe. We received a sample and have been testing it extensively for the past few months. If you run into Mike sometime after work, he’ll probably be wear-testing a pair. You’ll be surprised at how good they look after hearing about where they’ve been and what they’ve been through.

As we continue to develop the Lucha alpargata, we have a few specific things that we are looking for. First off we need a shoe that is very durable. We’ve been comparing other similar alpargatas, such as TOMS, and even some that are commonly worn in Argentina. We found that these types wear out very quickly. Their soles don’t last, they simply wear out very quickly. Our soles are made from an EVA rubber, which has two layers. A harder rubber for the outsole, helps with durability, and a softer midsole that helps create comfort and shock-absorption.

We also noticed wear in the upper part of the shoe. The canvas of the other alpargatas is thin and doesn’t have any structure. The Lucha alpargata is made with a thicker canvas that holds its form. In areas of wear and abrasion, where other alpargatas have failed, the Lucha has held strong.

The other alpargatas are also hot and cause your foot to sweat, making for some unpleasant shoe wearing. To combat this last issue of breathability in these types of shoes, we have added two embroidered air-vent-holes to keep your feet cooler. We also wanted to increase the comfort even more than just from the sole so we added a pigskin insole that helps fight odor and adds arch support to increase comfort.

The Lucha alpargata is a durable comfortable shoe. You won't be disappointed.

What are you fighting for? Fight with your feet. Lucha Shoes.

Dave

Lucha Logo Lessons

We are learning valuable lessons as we begin our first venture together...

The logo for any company, especially an apparel company, is an integral part to its success. We want a logo that will appeal to the teenagers to late twenties crowd. The underground feel is a must. We want a small logo that can stand by itself or be combined with the text, "Lucha Shoes - Fight With Your Feet." These are leisure shoes worn without socks--simple throw on shoes, take to the beach, ride your bike to the local shop, simple but still very comfortable. We want a fresh new urban feel. We need a clean and concise logo that "says it all," and we're willing to take the time and spend the money necessary to get to this point.

Initially we hired someone out of India who we thought could do a good job for a very very low price. Unfortunately after receiving those concepts, we weren't impressed. We didn't see the right feel we were looking for. So now we are working with Capital G Design to get a logo that will fit. Take a look at a few of the logos and leave your comments, thoughts, feelings, ideas on what you like and dislike about them.

Lesson learned--when attempting to create a cultural feel with your logo, it helps to use a designer who knows and lives in that culture! Sometimes you can't explain a cultural feel through emails and skype.

Mike

What Are You Fighting For?

We'd like to expand on the "Fight With Your Feet" theme we have created. For those of you who don't know, lucha is Spanish for "a fight." A few of you have commented, "Those shoes don't look like fighting shoes to me." You're absolutely right. These are not physical fighting shoes. These shoes will help people fight for good and against evil. Dave and I have decided that there isn't enough fighting for good in the world. So we are going to incorporate a personal, individual fight for good into each pair of shoes. Each person who purchases a pair of shoes will be able to personalize their Luchas to remind them what their fight is for. We haven't nailed down exactly how each one of you will be able to personalize your shoes. It might be a small tag you can write on, it might be simply writing on the bottom of the removable insole. If you have other ideas, please comment and let us know what you think would work well.

Are you fighting against racism? Cancer? Hate? Depression? War? Hunger? Are you fighting for peace? Love? Families? A loved one to succeed? The lists can go on and on. Every time you put on your Luchas, every step you take, will act as a reminder of your fight. Fight With Your Feet.

These pictures are of a volleyball team I've been helping coach for the last six months. Recently a member of our club, Rachel Steele, was diagnosed with Leukemia--and only two weeks before we were supposed to attend the national tournament in Reno, NV. Our team had orange jerseys made (which is Rachel's favorite color as well as the Leukemia awareness color). We also handed out orange ribbons to each team we played against--and some teams wore them to support this fight against Leukemia. Another of our Club Utah teams and countless parents made t-shirts in support of Rachel. A different club team's girls all put orange shoelaces in their shoes to show their support. They joined this good fight. These girls are fighting for Rachel--fighting against Leukemia.

Lucha Shoes, Fight With Your Feet, Fight the Good Fight!

Beginnings

We (Dave Blackwell and Mike Glauser) are starting a company that sells alpargata shoes. Our company's official name is Lucha, LLC. We got incorporated last week, got our tax id number, and we have our first prototype. We are working with Owen Fuller at Fit Marketing to get our logo and web site designed right now. We originally hired someone in India for $8/hour to design our logo, but the initial logos he sent us didn't have the feel we're looking for--so we decided to go with Owen. As soon as we have a logo, we'll be able to move on with our design as well as get our next sample shoes. For our first shipment, we'll be ordering 1000 pairs, which will hopefully arrive in the fall. The women's colors will be ash, maroon, and cream. The men's will be white, navy, and charcoal.

If you aren't familiar with alpargata shoes, they are similar to Toms Shoes. Ours will be a better shoe at a better price. There are a few main differences between our shoes and Toms. Ours have a thicker canvas and will therefore last longer. Ours also have a better gripping sole, as well as some small embroideredholes to help your feet breathe easier. These are relaxing, chill, everyday, wear to the beach or park type of shoes. Good for any occasion. They are simple and easy. No socks required (but some girls like to wear the "barely there" socks that basically just wrap around your toes and heels).

Dave and I are both very very excited about this company. Dave is the design and manufacturing expert. He currently works at backcountry.com designing clothing. I'll be in charge of sales, marketing, and general business operations. Part of the reason I'm so excited about this is that everyone I tell about our company wants to buy a pair of Luchas. We ultimately want to start with this simple alpargata, then get into other types of casual shoes, then maybe to apparel and other accessories.

This is the first company that Dave and I have started, and we both want to work hard to get a good product at a good price. We are learning more and more about this everyday as we talk to different people who have experience in starting companies, importing goods, etc. A man I met with last week said, "If importing from China (where our shoes will be made) was easy, everyone would do it." One thing that has really stood out to me is that everyone wants to help out. I talk to everyone about this, and it seems that people just come out of the woodwork with advice, or recommendations of people to talk to about being successful with a start up. Keep posted for updates on designs, our Lucha Launch, and our general progress!

--Mike