Simple Shoes are Extraordinary

I just picked up a pair of Simples Shoes "Sno Tire" shoes and I couldn't be happier about them. Simple Shoes is all about environmentally conscious products and the Sno Tire shoe is no exception. It's got a hemp upper, recycled PET plastic laces and liner and organic cotton inside. But here's the kicker (no pun intended), the soles are used snow tires! Not only does this make me feel good about my purchase, but it turns an ordinary product in an extraordinary one. This reminds me of Seth Godin's "Purple Cow" concept: if you saw a regular cow you wouldn't care, but if you saw a purple cow you would tell everyone you know about it. That's what it's been like with these shoes as I explain that there's snow tires for treads everyone has to examine them and ask questions about it. What a great way to drive word of mouth advertising. Whether Simple Shoes set out to make an eco-friendly shoe and just so happened to make it extraordinary or vis versa I don't know. One thing for sure is that I wouldn't be writing a post to tell you about my new pair of New Balance's any time soon (look! these have 7 eyelets and my old ones had 6! Cool!).