div class=headlineh1Goody goody gumbootsh1divdiv class=clear div

Photograph by:Handouts
, Tretorn/HunterVANCOUVER — It used to be that function prevailed over fashion when it came to gumboots, also known as rubber boots or wellies.

They came in black. Or black with red trim. We’d wear them gardening or farming. We’d don them for dirty yard work and to go to school if we were kids. They were cheap and lasted forever.

But several years back, the fashion footwear industry picked up on an artisan movement to paint rubber boots and suddenly our stores were laden with brightly patterned gumboots.

They were adorable, fresh and we had to have them, even at $40-$60.

Fast-forward to this season, when gumboots dominate the boot scene in Vancouver. EvenMichael Kors,DKNYandBrownsare in on it. You can pay $500 for rubber boots today. They may have fur cuffs or leopard spots or fleece lining, but they are rubber boots, nevertheless.

Still, Vancouver winters can be soakers and if you have to walk the dog every day, rain or shine, waterproof footwear is what you want. Gumboots also have the nice feature of being easy to step in and out of. You can hose off the mud easily too.

A few lines have added fashionable rubber flats that teens should love.

So here is a quick roundup of what’s out there to keep your feet dry on those horrible November days. But beware, many of the brands are lined with insulation suitable for 40-below temperatures. That is a little warm for Vancouver, but linings that can be removed are great for transitioning from rain to mountain top.

Rubber boots should last eight to 10 years but not all do. Keep them away from heat sources, which will cause cracks and ruin the finish. Sharp rocks can pierce them so consider that before you wear them hiking. Most of these boots are available atGumdrops Wet Weather boutiqueon Fourth Avenue in Vancouver.DavCalifornia-based maker of rainwear that has an equestrian or motorcycle boot look. They almost look like leather and feel great on. Good prices in the $60-$100 range. The Festival boot (shown) is designed for travel and festivals. You can roll up the upper so it fits in your suitcase or backpack.davrainMichael KorsClever man, Michael Kors. After years of making great shoes, he knows his label has cachet. He took a basic short rubber boot, put his initials logo on the uppers and turned function into fashion just like that. You can get his logo boot for $128 at Gumdrops.michaelkorsKamik NaomiThis 100-year-old Canadian company moulds its rain boot like a running shoe so the fit is much snugger than most rubber boots, making it great for walking. Known for its shiny uppers, it also has other designs now. They also have a rubber recycling program. Prices range from $70-$90 for the insulated boot.kamikTretornSwedish boots originally designed for sailors, they are as ubiquitous as the Hunters this year, with lots of designs. A good design for men. They have had a few issues with durability, but work continues on solving the problems raised by consumers. Original is $80. Oneyear warranty. Available at Browns and Town Shoes.store.tretornHunterThe classic British welly is everywhere this year. They have some very stylish uppers and the boot styles range from the original knee-high rubber to ankle boots and ballet flats. They have a very good reputation for durability. Their original design sells for $150 but they also have a $500 boot.hunter-bootBogsBased in Portland, Ore., this company originally served the farm and agriculture community, but it has since evolved to include everyday footwear, including fashion-forward wellies. They are best recognized for the handles cut out of the uppers that make them easy to pull on and easy to hold while you hose them off. Most are lined with a neotech insulation and can withstand real cold. The city boots are good to zero degrees Fahrenheit. They cost $140 and have a 100-percent guarantee.bogsfootwearChuck TaylorCT has come up with a rubber high-top sneaker that is a great option for men. It looks like a standard black CT, but you won’t get your feet wet wearing them. They cost $130 for adults and $60-$65 for kids sizes.gumdropsonline

Related articles:

• Michael Kors On Olsen Twins, Aviators, Great Legs
• Boston man wins online contest to become 1st male model in ‘The Price Is Right’ history

TV special follows US military dog teams through glory, trauma of combat from front lines

02/19/2013 3:45 AM|Comments:0PrintE–mailEnlarge ImageThis 2012 publicity photo provided by Animal Planet shows a soldier and military working dog, in Afghanistan. Animal Planet embedded four camera crews with front line troops for six weeks to create a television special called “Glory Hounds,” where each crew was assigned to a handler and his dog and the show set out to prove that dogs were more than military “tools.” “Glory Hounds” airs Thursday, Feb. 21, 2013 at 8 p.m. ET/PT and repeats on Feb. 24 at 9 a.m. ET/PT. (AP Photo/Animal Planet)LOS ANGELES, Calif. – It’s been almost seven months since a bomb exploded on a strip of dirt in Kandahar Province, Afghanistan. Air Force Tech. Sgt. Leonard Anderson can only remember a reassuring voice.He has seen the ambush and its aftermath on film, though: The man behind the voice putting a tourniquet on Anderson’s leg as a medic tended to the other, listening to his own cries for help and his dog’s whines of worry.The blast that severely wounded the military dog handler was captured on film by one of four camera crews that were embedded with front line troops last year. The voice that reassured him belonged to Craig Constant, a cameraman for Animal Planet’s “Glory Hounds” TV special, which airs Thursday took the network a year to get permission to film the two-hour special, which followed the animals into combat zones where insurgents and buried explosives could be around any bend or under any pile of dirt.Military dogs are prized targets for Taliban insurgents, Anderson said. They sniff out bombs, making safe passage for troops to follow and saving countless lives. The U.S. Department of Defence calls each dog a piece of equipment, but Constant says they’re much more than that.”They call them tools, and they are not. They are soldiers. They just have four paws instead of two feet. They walk in front of the platoons. It’s a deadly game, and they die all the time. But they save lives by finding IEDs that technology can’t find,” said Constant, referring to the military terminology for improvised explosive devices.Anderson became the handler for an 8-year-old Belgian Malinois named Azza when he asked for the job as kennel master at the base in Sperwan Ghar, said the 29-year-old who loves animals.The breed is among four — including Dutch shepherd, German shepherd and Labrador retriever — that is commonly used by the military because they are of similar size and temperament, easy to train and enjoy working, said Ron Aiello, president of the U.S. War Dogs Association.Azza became a military dog when she was 3 and detecting explosives was her specialty, said Anderson.On the day of the blast, early morning on July 28, Azza and Anderson were about a mile from the base camp. They didn’t need to go into the field — Anderson’s job was to assess daily needs, plot routes and assign teams. But the self-described adrenaline junkie said he couldn’t do his job if he didn’t know where his men and dogs were headed and what they were facingnstant and his sound technician were about 10 feet behind them when the bomb went off. Military experts who examined the blast site said it was activated by remote control, not set off by touch.But the dog bore the guilt: Constant remembers most vividly the anguished look on her face and her whines.”Azza just looked at him. She had a human face. She was helpless. She was concerned. She was fixated on him,” Constant said.The explosion knocked the camera out of Constant’s hands. He picked it up, planning to film, but dropped it when he saw Anderson.”I don’t know how he survived. There was a 6-foot-by-5-foot crater, and he was right on top of it,” said Constant, who suffered ear drum damage and shrapnel wounds. The sound technician was wounded in the leg.Anderson slipped in and out of consciousness while a medic and Constant, who is a former Marine, worked on his legs. Azza watched and whined.”The only thing I remember from that day is Craig’s voice talking to me telling me to ‘calm down,’ ‘be easy,’ ‘it’s going to be all right,’” Anderson said. “I woke up in Texas and that’s when I asked, ‘Where is my dog?’ and ‘What’s going on?’”Anderson doesn’t know how many surgeries he had in Afghanistan, Germany and San Antonio, Texas, but he estimates around 20 based on what doctors and relatives have told him. He lost his left forearm and four fingers on his right hand, suffered upper body injuries and lost the skin on both legs.Azza has been retired and was adopted by Anderson, his wife and their sons, ages 1 and 2. Memories of combat still haunt her, he said.”She has some pretty bad nightmares, moving, breathing real heavy. I will slowly wake her up. She will get up and pace the house,” he saidnstant believes “Glory Hounds” shows the importance of dogs and their combat work.”They really showed the truth and consequences of what these guys do. It’s sad to watch because the story is told as much as you can tell it in two hours,” he said.His only regret from filming the show was that he didn’t have his camera trained on Azza while they were helping Anderson.”I wish to God I could have shot that. I wish I could have gotten that on film,” Constant said. “It would have changed people’s ideas about dogs” being viewed as merely equipment or property, he added.___”Glory Hounds” airs Thursday at 8 p.m. ET/PT and repeats on Feb. 24 at 9 a.m. ET/PT.___Online:inaccuracy? Something missing? Help improve our journalism.Know about news? Share your story suggestions, photos and video.

Related articles:

• Escapism makes its comeback as exotic looks at NY Fashion Week create a virtual vacation
• Photo See Gwyneth Paltrow’s fashion gaffe

RealReal, Poshmark, Threadflip go social on seconds

Secondhand shopping is in the throes of a tech-driven seismic shift, one that is quickly making the gently worn and just-like-new not simply equal in stature to off-the-rack items, but arguably more desirable. How much more would you want that Prada purse or perfect vintage fedora if it were from the closet of your favoritefashionblogger or among favorite items selected by a stylist to A-list stars?

At the same time, fashion-minded startups are pursuing new ways to connect buyers and sellers online in a space that’s been stagnant for years.

“EBay today looks frighteningly similar to eBay in 1999, and Craigslist looks like a newsgroup,” saysJim Rose, co-founder of San Francisco’s Copious, an online marketplace with a Pinterest-style layout that matches shoppers with new and used items based on trends and people they follow.

Recently tapping fashion bloggers such as Man Repeller and Because I’m Addicted to sell their preloved clothing and accessories through its platform, Copious is just one example of secondhand style’s new look. The RealReal, Poshmark and Threadflip are also turning secondhand fashion into an evermore stylish, entertaining and increasingly social pursuit.The RealRealAn unmarked unit in a nondescript office park 13 miles north of theGolden Gate Bridgeseems an unlikely place to find a $17,500Hermès Birkinbag or a rack of Chanel items the length of a Google shuttle bus.

But that’s what’s inside the filled-to-the-gills offices of the RealReal, a website selling pre-owned luxury women’s apparel and accessories through 72-hour flash sales.

“We literally have some of the wealthiest women in the world’s clothing coming in here,” says co-founder and CEOJulie Wainwright, once the chief executive of Pets, an Amazon-backed company whose demise became the stuff of bust-era legend.

Launched in June, the RealReal accepts designer labels, often sent by way of high-profile stylists on behalf of anonymous celebrity clients. In a 2.0 version of the traditional consignment model, the company then inspects, photographs, prices and lists items in exchange for a 40 percent cut of the sale.

“We have a different twist on an old business,” Wainwright says.

With nearly 20 employees sharing an office the size of a modest conference room, Wainwright is prepping to move to a new Sausalito location capable of housing enough boxes of Blahniks and Louboutins and racks of Burberry, Balenciaga and Celine to satisfy the appetites of the site’s 65,000 members.

“The industry’s image has gotten a boost from some reality shows that follow resellers and their upscale customers,” says First Research’sLinnea Kirgan, a specialist on the $16 billion used-merchandise retail industry, of which about 15 percent, or about $2.4 billion, is women’s clothing and accessories.

The question is how to create marketplaces that will not only draw more of that $2.4 billion online, but also attract new populations of buyers and sellers.PoshmarkLaunched in December with $3.5 million in funding led byMayfield Fund, Menlo Park’s Poshmark allows iPhone users to download its mobile app, snap images of clothing and accessories, and quickly post them for others to like, comment on, share on social networks or buy.

“We’ve had women who’ve downloaded the app at 10 o’clock, uploaded their first items by noon and shipped their items by 4 p.m.,” relates co-founder and CEOManish Chandra, also founder of Kaboodle (now owned by Hearst).

Weeknight Posh Parties invite members to open the app at designated times to buy and sell items grouped into themes like pop of color, wild things and statement jewelry. When an item is purchased, Poshmark processes payment, takes 20 percent of the sale and sends the seller a shipping label.

Comments like, “I want this!!!” and “wish this was my size!” appear alongside buyer questions ranging from “can u model this?” to “would u trade?” Sellers are mostly happy to oblige.

“The entire platform is built around a social architecture,” Chandra says.

And while socializing is part of the in-app culture, users are doing more than just chatting. About $250,000 in new merchandise is uploaded each week, with the average item priced at $50. Poshmark declined to give exact numbers but says user count doubles monthly and transactions double every two weeks.

Socializing in a virtual space may be part of the experience, but the ease with which users can buy and sell is, perhaps, even more of a draw.

“If I’m able to sell through my phone, and I don’t have to walk out my door, it saves me time, and it’s convenient,” saysJeanne Chan, who runs the blog ShopSweet Thingsand has sold aLouis Vuittonbag andMichael Korsboots using Poshmark.ThreadflipAnother secondhand-style hub attracting bloggers and high-tech fashion fans is Threadflip, a San Francisco startup launched in April with $1.6 million in funding led by First Round Capital and Baseline Ventures. The company recently hired Going West blogger Jennie Lodge as a brand manager and features items owned by popular bloggers, includingBrit Morinof Hello Brit, Late Afternoon’sLiz CherkasovaandLaura Ellnerof On the Racks.

Threadflip’s 5,000 members join by connecting their Facebook profiles and completing a short style survey and shop by scrolling a continuously refreshed grid of images displayed in a Pinterest-style format. The company is betting that its attractive layout and features designed to make selling quick and easy will appeal to those who might shy away from eBay and Craigslist.

“What’s happened over the years with marketplaces is that they cater primarily to power sellers, people who have the time and the resources to set up shop. We truly want to build a P2P (person-to-person) platform where an everyday woman seamlessly can use it,” explains co-founder and CEOManik Singh, formerly a vice president at the Sean Parker-founded philanthropy site Causes.

Threadflip allows members to upload images directly from Facebook and sends sellers a box, wrapping paper and a prepaid shipping label to package and send items. The company is experimenting with aWhite Glove Serviceoption that functions much like the RealReal’s consignment model. Send in items and agree to part with 40 to 50 percent of the sale price versus the 15 percent taken for other transactions, and Threadflip will handle the styling, photography and merchandising and send you a check once items sell.

Related articles:

• Meters Kors clutches are really special
• A must-have adornment Michael kors handbags