You might have heard rumors that Simple Shoes is going away… or “ceasing distribution” as some of you have read. The bad news is that it’s true—for now. After 20 years of shoe making, Simple was ready for a vacation, a “creative reenergizing,” if you will.

We’re gonna go do some of the things we couldn’t do while we were so busy making some great shoes, and hopefully we will stumble onto something big. Meanwhile, we’ll check in every now and then to see how you’re all doing, but if you just remember to keep it Simple, you should be all good.

Cheers to the next step,

Simple Shoes

P.S. If you need some Simple kicks, check out www.Zappos.com as they are keeping some styles around for a little while.

For returns and exchanges:
Simple Shoes will no longer be accepting exchanges for products purchased on simpleshoes.com or at retail locations. Refunds for products under warranty will be offered for purchases from simpleshoes.com, the Simple Shoes call center and Simple Shoes mail order through December 31, 2012 with proof of purchase. If you purchased your product anywhere besides simpleshoes.com, the Simple Shoes call center or through Simple Shoes mail order, we will accept returns and issue a full purchase credit on any Deckers brand site with proof of purchase.

The state of the country and its shrinking economy has left many people staring at their existential dilemma head on. As doors have closed on the pre-conceived definition of the American dream a lot of people have made lemonade from lemons oftentimes approaching their passions for the first time or simply reigniting old ones. For bicycle advocates Russ Roca and Laura Crawford, this came in the form of hopping on their bikes, taking the path less pedaled and inspiring others to do the same.

What was the inspiration to leave everything behind and climb aboard a bike to see the US?

Like a lot of people, we’ve always had the dream to travel and see the US first-hand. Laura and I were bike commuting pretty regularly and right around the same time we discovered bike touring. We gave it a try and did our first tour out to wine country around Solvang. We were instantly hooked. We did bike tours (sometimes only an overnighter or a weekend tour) every chance we got. It was a cheap, fun and healthy way to have an adventure. When the opportunity presented itself to do a long open-ended bike tour we jumped at it. We sold everything we owned, hit the road and have never regretted it.

What were some of the challenges you faced on your first tour?

When you first start touring, there are some physical challenges. You slowly build up base miles and basic endurance. After awhile, however, the challenges are mental. You always wonder if you can get up over the hill or the mountain pass or cross the desert. You realize that you are physically capable of most challenges, but its a matter of coaxing your brain and managing fear.

How does the experience of riding a bike compare to other modes of transportation, especially on a long tour like your first?

Bike touring is fast enough that you feel like you’ve moved through the landscape, but slow enough for real interaction. If we were in a car, we wouldn’t have met all the wonderful people that we’ve met while on the bicycle. When you’re on a loaded bike, people are curious and they’ll ask you questions and invite you into your homes. In comparison, simply driving a car across the country is a very lonely and solitary experience. Also on a bicycle, you really get a chance to know the country. You feel every hill or breeze, you smell the trees and flowers, you’re very connected to the landscape you are moving through.

Your story and website are very encouraging for the dedicated bicycle tourist and those new to that world. What key pieces of advice would you give to someone just starting out?

The best advice we can give is to just hit the road. Most people are daunted by what is the best tent or best bike and it keeps them from going! Start with a short overnight bike tour or a weekend bike tour to figure out your limits, your comfort zone and play with your gear. Once you do one, the feeling of being self-contained is addictive and it may lead to your own cross country bike adventure!

Can you tell us more about your current tour?

We are both advocates at heart. We wanted to cross the country again, but to do it just for our own pleasure seemed selfish. Our next trip is about highlighting bike and transportation advocates across the country and profiling bicycle friendly businesses. We are using Brompton folding bikes and public transit (Amtrak and regional buses) to criss-cross the country. As we travel, we’ll be giving presentations about bicycle travel and the simple ways communities can become more bike friendly. Another new feature is video. We’ve got a small video camera rig to do the interviews, but to also document our adventures. We’re also encouraging our Facebook fans to really point us where to go.

 
For more information on The Path Less Pedaled visit their website and Facebook page.

Car ownership. Whether it’s a three-year lease or driving something around till the wheels fall off, car ownership can be as committed as a marriage. But is it the only way? Does it benefit everyone, including the environment, to be monogamous when it comes to your ride?  Car rentals even, can seem like a long-dealt, tiring process akin to wasting a half day at the car rental shop (only to worry if you really should have bought that extra car protection).

Wouldn’t it be nice to just get a set of keys and take the car out for a straight commute or even an hour to pick up groceries? Wanna take a spur-of-the-moment weekend trip out of the city with the crew? For tomorrow’s savvy modern society, will car ownership stay reserved to those only willing spent hundreds to thousands of dollars?

Perhaps not.

At least, according to some pretty up-and-coming car-borrowing companies popping up across the country, like Zipcar, Getaround, Relay Rides and I-Go.

Groups of locals are now borrowing a single set of wheels among themselves—anywhere from a few hours to a few days. The concept is particularly appealing for the fact that you can take out a borrowed set of wheels for $8 per hour. How about renting something like a Mini Cooper or a Hybrid?

Plus, borrowing someone else’s wheels definitely lightens the carbon footprint. According to Zipcar’s website, 10 percent of the population is expected to adopt car sharing as their primary mode of transportation.

The idea was so fetching that innovative of innovative companies Google, even opted to lend their employees some electric cars of their own, to do anything from errands to commutes.

Everyone knows a win-win situation when they see it. Usually, it involves two parties getting a little more than expected, maybe something, ahem, partially free. Ever snag a free latte after a messed up order? (you get a freebie and the shop avoids wasting any food.)

WinWin Living, a daily deal website (think Groupon + planet-friendly) that launched in February, is making you some of the best offers right now–we’re talking about 50 to 90 percent off (no joke) eco and local stuff, from gluten-free cookies, holistic spa treatments, eco-car detailing, even a month of organic produce delivered to your door.

Wanna know the win-win situation here? Good folks like you get eco goodies at a discount, and WinWin Living donates 10 percent of proceeds to a charity of your choice. Opt for some as TreePeople, Heal the Bay, APCH (inner city educational program), and others.

Give it a whirl today by signing up on email. Like Groupon, you have up to 72 hours to purchase your deal (but a whole year to use it). Do you Twitter? Follow them on Twitter and you’ll find yourself getting additional discounts on top of discounts just for some old-fashioned tweeting–try a 70 percent spa discount on for size.

Shaun Tomson was at the pinnacle of his professional and personal life —a former world-champion surfer, a successful entrepreneur of multi-million dollar clothing brands and an inspirational speaker—when his 15-year-old son, Mathew, died in a tragic accident. In a brand new chapter of his best selling book, ‘Surfer’s Code’, he writes about the strength derived from lessons learned from his father who survived a shark attack at the height of a swimming career to competition in the world’s most dangerous waves. Shaun provides a personal account of facing life’s hardest challenge by looking toward the future and the light that shines ahead.

This Wednesday, Simple celebrates the release of the second edition of ‘Surfer’s Code’ at The Simple Space in New York City. Join Shaun for slides and stories from a lifetime of surfing.

Can you tell us more about this new addition of ‘Surfer’s Code’?

The new edition is in a paperback format with an interesting new cover concept that uses the symbolism of a spinning tube. Tubes are the essence of the surfing experience and that was a big focus of my surfing so it is apt that it represents what I love about surfing.

What is ‘Surfer’s Code’ and how does it apply to the non-surfer?

The surfer’s code is whatever you want it to be—different people see different things in its simple ideas. At its core it is about honor and hope, commitment and perseverance. Surfing teaches you to be hopeful and optimistic—we travel all over the world hoping for that perfect wave. We sit for hours in the lineup hoping that wave will come our way. We wipeout and paddle back out for another. always hopeful. We take turns for waves with people we’ve never met and if someone gets in a bad situation we paddle over to help. People love the mystique and freedom of surfing and rightly so because it is so different to any other sport—the code is part of all surfers—I just collected it and wrote down what was most important to me.

Do you feel like the dynamic nature of the surf industry, your experiences traveling and the people you met along the way gave you a perspective unlike any other industry?

I never felt that my surfing was really part of an industry—sure I competed as a pro, helped develop a cicuit, started some companies and sponsored world champions but the most important part of my surfing happened far back in the tube, alone, just me my board and the wave, away from the business of surfing, a world away from winning or losing, success or failure. Surfing has given me a global integrated view, a view that as surfers and people we are all interconnected and need to have compassion, empathy and respect for one another and the environment in which we live.

Do you think that if you were starting out surfing today you would have the same perspective on things that you did back in the 70s and 80s?

I think the period I grew up in has no relevance to one’s fundamental belief structure and core values. Honor, hope, courage, compassion have no relationship to time and trends.

What do you hope people will take away from this book?

I hope people will be more respectful towards one another and the environment and understand that there will always be another wave.

‘Surfer’s Code’ Book Tour Schedule

ON THE EAST COAST

Tues. June 7, 2011, 7 p.m.

Ocean Hut Surf Shop

3111 Route 35 N Lavallette, NJ 08735,

732.793.3400

Wed. June 8, 2011, 5-9 p.m.

The Simple Space

New York Gallery Building

24 W. 57th St. #601, New York, NY 10019

rsvp to space@simpleshoes.com

Thurs. June 9, 2011, 7 p.m.

Bunger Surf Shop

Babylon Village

800.698.SURF

Fri. June 10, 2011, 7 p.m.

Saturdays Surf NYC

31 Crosby St. NY, NY 10013

212.966.7875

ON THE WEST COAST

Mon. June 13, 2011, 7 p.m.

Pages Books

904 Manhattan Ave. Manhattan Beach, CA. 90266

310.318.0900

Wed. June 15, 2011, 7 p.m.

Hobie Surf Shop

34174 Pacific Coast Hwy. Dana Point, CA 92629

949.496.2366

Thurs. June 16, 2011, 7 p.m.

Channel Islands Surfboards

8175 Melrose Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90046

323.370.1700

Fri. June 17, 2011, 7 p.m.

O’Neill Surf Shop

1115 41st Avenue, Santa Cruz, CA 95010

831.475.4151

You can purchase ‘Surfer’s Code’ at Amazon.com.

This year Simple Shoes turns 20. Time sure flies, doesn’t it?! If you’re anything like us you love live music and what better way to celebrate a birthday than with live music?

As part of the Simple 20-Year Anniversary Tour we’ll be hosting a free show with The Watson Twins tonight in the live music capital of the world, Austin, TX. The gifts keep on giving as we also donate 20% of the sale of each pair of shoes bought at one of our three Austin locations to the Health Alliance of Austin Musicians. HAAM provides low-cost primary health care services, basic dental care and mental health counseling for professional musicians. So come out, give a little and get a lot.

‘Night Covers’, the latest EP from The Watson Twins is out now.

As of late, Google is taking a serious interest in all things clean energy, from solar power, electric vehicles to their latest venture, wind power. Last month, they threw a $55 million money bag at Tehachapi-Mojave Alta Wind Energy Center.

And in April, the monolithic Mountain View-based Internet company invested $100 million into Shepherds Flat Wind Farm, anticipated to be the world’s largest wind farm.

The northern Oregon onshore project is expected to finish construction in 2012, and produce 845 megawatts energy–enough to power 235,000 homes. Power will be sold directly to Southern California Edison through 20-year fixed price power purchase agreements.

“The project will benefit the region by helping California meet its aggressive renewable energy goals with a cost-effective and clean wind resource” as reported on Google’s blog.

Not only that, supporters say that the planned 338 wind turbines will also help eliminate 1.2 million tons of air pollution, annually.

Let’s hope we’ll all be taking a soon-to-be fresher breath of air. And perhaps we’ll even feel a little better knowing that the energy to support Google’s more than one billion daily searches is really just blowing in the wind.

Images courtesy of Creative Commons Flickr.

Artists like Ryan McGinness used to be considered affordable but his large scale works now carry a heavy price tag.

While purchasing art for the sake of investment is a risky endeavor—there is no way of knowing who and what is going to be worth shelling out a few hundred dollars for—we encourage you to follow the lead of collectors like Herb and Dorothy Vogel who amassed one of the largest collections of contemporary art simply by intuition. Below we offer a pared down guide to a few galleries, websites and other resources to help guide your purchases before the zeros go beyond the triple digits.

1.) Iconoclast Editions offer up prints, books, objets d’art from some of the most notable names in the “street art” movement and beyond including Shepard Fairey, Ryan McGinness and Geoff McFetridge.

2.) With the impending death of print in the digital age, rare printed matter is becoming more and more collectible. First editions, limited quantities and even out of print magazines can be found at the Los Angeles’-based Family bookstore and Lead Apron along with Dashwood Books out of the Big Apple, while publishers like Nieves Press and Steidl continue to produce pulp by some of the most coveted names in the art and photography world.

3.) Long known for breaking new talent, Los Angeles’ New Image Art Gallery once showed artists like Ed Templeton and Thomas Campbell who have gone on to hang their pieces proudly in well-known galleries the world over. New Image still continues to support up and comers but also keep an eye on Jack Hanley in New York and Ace Gallery in Los Angeles for those rising through the ranks. Also watch the Simple Space in New York where we showcase some great talent with some good eyes.

4.) For the budget-minded consumer, Poster Child Prints produces limited edition posters by the ubiquitous Skullphone, Curtis Kulig and others while CS Editions sells artful notebooks and sketchpads for list takers and line makers.

Further, by 2020, the number of EV sales will climb to 11.7 percent–meaning a tenth of Angelenos will be heading out on the highway with a non-gas-powered car.

This report comes from the UCLA Luskin Center for Innovation. “Based on our study, we expect that rising gasoline prices will naturally shift the demand from conventional combustion cars to electric vehicles,” says study co-author Jeffrey Dubin, UCLA Anderson School of Management adjunct professor of economics and statistics.

While supply is expected to catch up with demand by 2013, you can still preview and even test drive many of these emissions-free vehicles at the dealers (there’s usually a sign up):

1. Nissan Leaf: 100-mile range
2. Chevy Volt: 40+ mile-range, plug-in hybrid + gas
3. Mini Cooper E: 100-mile range
4. Tesla Model S: 160-300-mile range *2012
5. Prius Plug-in Hybrid: 13-mile range
6. Ford Focus Electric: 100-mile range *2012
7. Honda Fit EV: 100-mile range *2012
8. Honda Plug-in Hybrid: 10-15-mile range *2012
9. Volvo C30 EV: 95-mile range
10. Golf Blue e-Motion: 93-mile range *2014

Unsure where to find your nearest charge station? Check out Google’s Electric Car Station map.

Prius Plug-in Hybrid

Nissan Leaf

Mini Cooper E

Angelenos are the leaders when it comes to doing the electric.

Photos by Creative Commons Flickr and Sarah McClure.

It sounds like you’ve been busy getting ready for this show. Can you tell us more about the work you’re showing?

I am showing a new batch of seven oil paintings on canvas inspired by my everyday life and dreams, also a bunch of new surfboards that I shaped. They are 4’11” to 11′ with a variety of fin setups. There will also be limited edition prints available.

Are you exploring any new techniques with your art such as new mediums or processes?

I have been messing around mixing my intricate illustration with bold colors of oil painting.

What constitutes ‘surf craft?’

Vessels to assist riding ocean swells.

What are you focusing on in the coming months? Are you concentrating more on shaping, making art or all of the above?

I am going to Bali for a month in June then going to spain for the Joel Tudor Duct Tape Invitational contest. I will be in the US Open, the Joel Tudor/Pacifico Expression Session, then I have an art show at the end of August in Hawaii with Andy Davis and Jeff Canham at the Greenroom.