If you love melissa shoes then you’ll love the steps they are taking to be environmentally friendly. All melissa products are created from mono-materials that can be easily disassembled and recycled. Solid, liquid and gas residues, leftover from the production process, are recycled and dealt with in-house. Nothing leaves their factory without being properly treated, resulting in practically zero waste. For stockist or more greenie information head to www.melissaaustralia.com.au.

Shoe fans Australia-wide will soon be able to sport a little piece of italy on their tootsies with the launch of Australian-designed, Italian-made footwear label Tom Gunn. Brisbane designers Gabrielle Thompson and Shannon Gunn quit their jobs in 2007 and bought one-way tickets to Italy determined not to come back until they had their first range! Tom Gunn’s Summer 08 collection will be available from September and will retail from $500. For stockist and more info: www.tomgunn.com.au

You don’t want your shoes to be more interesting than you. But if you slip on these puppies – Vaider Teal Snakes from Supra – then, to be honest, you are running the risk of having footwear that excites passersby more than you do. How to combat this trend? Before donning, do three things. 1. Bone up on current affairs and gossip trash mags. You should be able to dissect the situation in Georgia and speculate on Britney’s comeback. Ideally at the same time. 2. Take up an exotic hobby, so people can say, “Look, there goes that girl who collects dangerous mushroom spores” or, “Isn’t that the fellow who can leap over his minivan on his kid sister’s pink tricycle?” 3. Learn a party trick. Recite “Ice, Ice Baby” backwards at 3am with a few bevvies under your belt and you really are a rock star. Vaider Teal Snakes $189.95. Ring (02) 9904 4054 for stockists.

Hearing about courses like this makes me so envious of the Sydney-folk. Master shoe-maker Andrew McDonald is running five and 10-day shoe-making courses. The five-day course is designed as an introduction to the art of shoe-making where you will be able to make one pair of shoes from start to finish. The main difference with the 10-day course is that during the second week you dig deeper into the shoe-making skill set and apply your newfound talents into the making of a second pair of shoes. The courses are held in Paddington, Sydney and there are plenty of dates to choose from starting from December 1st this year and running through to June 2009. The bad news is the course fees are pretty $$$, but the good news is that there is only one student per class, so tuition is on a one-on-one basis. Brilliant. No time for distractions when there is shoe-making to be done. Oh, and no previous experience is necessary – that’s what we like to hear. Hooray for beginners. For more detailed info on dates, fees and course requirements click here. 

This sweet photography project seems to be pinging around le internet at the moment, but we’d be remiss if we didn’t point it out. It’s kind of awesome. Argentinian photographer Irina Werning convinced a heap of her friends to recreate photos from their younger days – baby photos, class shots, holiday snaps – and the results are pretty amazing. Have a look here.

It was a race to the finish line, but the winners for the Well Worn Volleys competition have been drawn. Some of their (and our) favourite stories came from the likes of Shannon, whose humble Volleys saved her life when she was struck by lightning, or Nuffy, whose DVs have taken him to the heights of Machu Picchu in Peru, the depths of litre beer mugs during Oktoberfest, and even to the tattooist's chair - he has the Volleys logo inked on his foot. The winner was Mick though, whose friend's op shop talents uncovered a super rare pair of hi-tops. His winning photo is below. To see the rest of the photography, the shoes, and hear the winning stories, head to Fracture Gallery in Melbourne's Fed Square to check them out. They'll also all be up online on Friday. Viva la Volley!

Winter is here, and although we don't live in the snowy depths of Canada or up an icy hill in Switzerland or anything, it's always a good excuse to buy ourselves another pair of boots. The new range by local design maestros The Horse have us attempting to kick our feet into the air and do heel clicks, Charlie Chaplin style. They have striking designs for both lads and lasses, with the new season available for your viewing pleasure here.

Clogs, frogs, hogs, togs, logs. No, not really the sexiest words in the English language, but wait! Banish those thoughts, we're about to throw a spanner in the works… Take a look-see at these beauties. It's the new range of Funkis clogs by photographer-turned-blogger-turned-designer, Zanita Whittington. They're a little bit suede, a little bit wood and a little bit patent. We little bit love them. Actually, we a lot love them. Think about those mornings when all you want to wear are a pair of jeans and your boyfriend's tee: these things just made that outfit pretty glamorous. I'll take one in every colour, please. Welcome to the future, baby.

Never have we seen a pair of wellies so stylish - normally we feel like we're either knee-deep in sheep doo-doo or like we're wearing a children's television program on our calves. Native Shoes brings you a rubbery chic alternative: The Paddington wellington boot. We think we're in love. Lace-up gumboots: how could we not be? Even if it isn't raining outside we think we're going to pull these on and go galloping around stomping in imaginary puddles. What's that? Did you say 'festival season'? We thought so.