Fashion and Function on the Run

I live in the most, shall we say, lifestyle diverse neighborhood in Seattle, so when I’m out on a run, it’s not surprising to receive an up-and-down from anyone, male or female. During the beginning of the reprise of my running life, a lot of those looks seemed to say, “Oh, look at the poor slob trying to run.” Recently, that empathy has been replaced with envy.

ashmei's Ultimate Softshell Running Jacket

How do I know that for sure? The very first time I went running in my ashmei Ultimate Softshell Running Jacket, a guy running in the opposite direction slowed upon approach, did a 180, caught up (too easily, perhaps) and asked, “Where did you get that jacket?!”

True story.

So many of us have spent so much time at Fernando’s Hideaway, that figment of Billy Crystal’s imagination, we’ve started subscribing to the it’s-better-to-look-good-than-to-feel-good philosophy. The U.K.-based company ashmei shows us that we can do both. Not only do I “look marvelous, darling” in my new jacket, I feel that way, too.

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Leffot: It Must Be the Shoes!

I’ve pounded pavement from sea to shining sea, but you don’t have to walk even a block in my shoes to know the futility of a search for fashionable men’s footwear. Shoes are supposed to be a “female thing,” the purview of leather hounds such as Imelda Marcos, Carrie Bradshaw and their ilk. The New York Post wrote, as recently as a couple years ago, that “it’s only for women that shoes become an all-consuming obsession.”

Based on my own inclinations, and those of people I know (some of whom track the release of, say, Nike Air Forces like others do the weather), I’d say the male focus on footwear isn’t considered at obsession level due only to the absence of available inventory. As a sports journalist, I’ve traveled extensively, killed considerable time in the name of fashion, and can suggest the best places to buy menswear in a lot of different cities. But ask me about a place, anywhere in this country, to buy well-made, in-style shoes, and I’m stumped.

Until now, that is. Until Leffot.
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