This fall, Alegria is introducing its new ROK n ROLL collection featuring a next generation rocker outsole. Footwear in the line sports athleisure style and is designed with comfort and support in mind to meet the needs of everyone from hardworking professional women to “adventure seekers forever on the go.” 

ROK n ROLL styles, $149.95, include a cushioned footbed, a durable and long-lasting rocker bottom, and the brand’s enhanced built-in arch for underfoot support and comfort. The design aims to help reduce pressure under the ball of the foot, aiding in the relief of arthritis pain, and helping ease the pressure associated with plantar fasciitis. 

Shoes in the line also feature plenty of wiggle room at the toe box to accommodate natural expansion of the foot after long hours of standing and walking, while underneath is a rubber treaded outsole that provides slip-and-trip resistance for added safety. This combination in each pair of ROK n ROLL’s creates a gentle heel-to-toe rolling motion that is designed to seamlessly move the wearer along when walking.

With the ROK n ROLL collection, Alegria aims to deliver on style as well as performance, paying homage to the nursing community with style names that include the Shift Lead, an easy-to-wear slip-on available in a water-repellent mesh or vegan leather uppers. Double Trouble features a hook-and-loop strap also in a water-repellent mesh or vegan leather upper. Rounding out the collection is the Roll On lace-up style and the Rotation, a lace-less look, both featuring the generously accommodating Dream Fit knit upper.  

Aetrex is aiming to “take the guesswork out of footwear R&D” with the launch of its newly launched Foot.com Data Portal, a dedicated platform designed to help shoe manufacturers create better fitting footwear. Users can view and extract global 3D foot data broken down by gender, foot size, country and more. 

The portal aggregates foot scans from Aetrex’s two newest 3D foot scanners, Albert 2 Pro and Albert 3DFit. These novel scanners are engineered with a pure computer vision model, a proprietary process designed to collect comprehensive foot data and create the most accurate 3D reconstruction of the foot. From these 3D models of feet, Aetrex can pull accurate measurements from any part of the foot, from any or all scans in the database.

“Foot.com allows subscribers to click a map view to access data from regions around the world, broken down by average shoe size, by gender and by country. For example, a footwear developer who wants to develop an anatomically correct last for a women’s shoe size 8 can download the average 3D measurements of the foot in different regions, or pinpoint one country to make a well informed last,” said Kumar Rajan, SVP of Engineering at Aetrex.

To access Aetrex’s Foot.com Data Portal, early subscribers can enroll for $1,000 per month. 

Canadian and Indigenous-rooted footwear brand Manitobah opened a new flagship store earlier this month in Winnipeg, MB. This is the first permanent store for Manitobah. The store is staffed with a team of 100% Indigenous people and “celebrates Indigenous art, pride and resilience.” It showcases the brand’s vibrant collections of artfully-crafted mukluks, moccasins and lifestyle footwear. The store will also serve as a community space to host workshops, activations, beading circles and more. Established in 1997 by Métis founder Sean McCormick, Manitobah started with a vision to build a global brand that would make positive impacts in Indigenous communities.