Shoe industry taken over by bloggers, Holts shoe section taken over by Tommy Ton

Jerome Rousseau booties. Photo by Tommy Ton, courtesy of Holt Renfrew

Love them or hate them, bloggers have taken over the fashion industry faster than an army of bedbugs at Hollister.

Their front row stints is old news by now, but it’s worth checking out how the blogger’s influence affects not only what we decide to wear, but what is designed in the first place. In this case, we’re talking about shoes. Footwear News just took a look at how shoe brands are working with bloggers to get their message out. Case in point: Sebago, a line known foremost for its loafers, has invited Joshua Kissi, co-founder of Streetetiquette.com, to collaborate for footware line, The Nexus Project. The collabo features ten other bloggers who designed custom shoes, who all will be reporting on it on their respective blogs. Farylrobin did their part by sponsoring a participant at this year’s BlogHer conference–in exchange for mentions on the blog.

Here in Canada, Holt Renfrew is teaming up with blogosphere royalty Tommy Ton–the Torontonian behind Jak & Jill and who is known to follow a snap-worthy pair of shoes down the street–to give some street style cred to their shoe department. From August 18 to 30, an exhibit of Ton’s footwear photos, each featuring pieces of footwear that Holts will be carrying for fall, will be displayed at the Bloor Street store within striking distance of the shoes themselves, providing more than a little encouragement for shoppers. The 12 photos, which are worth about $1,500 each will be up for grabs, with entry ballots available at the store for the duration of the exhibit.

Click the images below to see some of the photos that will be on display.

The Rise of the Blogger [WWD]

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