Shoes just made for walking
Camper marks its tenth anniversary in Thailand with an exhibition on the walkway linking the Siam Square One and BTS Siam station that ends today.
Camper was founded in 1975 in Mallorca, Spain as a family-run business dedicated to creating original footwear concepts. Today the company sells around 4 million pairs of shoes annually, has more than 400 stores, and is available in 40 countries.
Camper’s heritage stems back almost 140 years when the Fluxa family began making handcrafted shoes using the high quality materials and latest manufacturing processes and machinery. Its approach to footwear design is to create unisex concepts that blur the boundaries between sporty and smart. Hybrid models now feature prominently across the collection and combine familiar features with fresh elements to create new styles infused with the new spirit of evolution.
The exhibition displays the brand’s first shoe, the Camaleon, which was inspired by the footwear of local farmworkers. The unisex style was a sustainable model, made of surplus offcuts of leather, worn out tyres, and strips of canvas. “Twins” was created in 1988, when Camper decided to challenge the idea that shoes must be identical. Reception for this playful concept was overwhelming and has resulted in collaborations with several of Spain’s best-known artists. Pelotas, one of Camper’s most influential and recognisable icons, became hugely popular in the mid-nineties. Inspired by the pioneers of sport, each Pelotas model is infused with a different sporting passion but always features the characteristic 87 balls on the outsole. The concept has been reinvented many times, from the classic retro leather upper to the technical materials of more futuristic designs. Pelotas has sold over 11 million pairs to date.
The Wabi shoe gets its name from stems from the verb “Wabiru” which means to ask for forgiveness. Created by Camper in 2000, this concept emphasizes the contradiction between rural and urban, inside and out. Wabi represents production innovation by reducing the production process down to just four steps and using minimal components.
Also on display are old posters of interesting Camper’s Ad campaign such as the one that belongs to the T37 campaign (A/W 1993-1994) and was designed by the graphic designer, sculptor and illustrator Pere Torrent.
