Author: Christopher D. Burns, MFA in The Allen: Haze Gray (photo by Darius B. Williams)
Author: Christopher D. Burns, MFA, in The Allen: Navy Blue (photo by Darius B. Williams)
Local Memphis author Christopher D. Burns, MFA in the new ARCH Casual shoe: The Allen. Styling by K’PreSha Boutique and photos by Darius B. Williams of Aquarius Studios.
Visit Darius B. Williams’ Aquarius Studios
Visit K’PreSha Boutique at 323 South Main in Downtown Memphis
ARCH Casual: The Allen-Navy
Anyone who knows me, knows that some of the best times of my young adulthood occurred when I was Haze Gray and underway. In other words, when I was in the Navy I learned a lot about life; in particular I learned about myself.
The next two colorways from the ARCH Casual line represent my time in the Nav. I guess it’s a special dedication to my guys in VF-114, The Fighting Aardvarks and VF-213, the Fighting Black Lions F-14 squadrons. Big shout out to CVN-72 Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier! Singapore, Hong Kong, PI, Hawaii, Perth, Dubai, I got to see a lot of the world.
Maybe these shoes will take you on a trip.
ARCH Casual: The Allen-Haze Gray
These are rough photos straight from the factory. I will try to get better shots when they land in the US.
Stay Motivated
Chris B
What's in the box?
It’s December! That means the ARCH Casual line is launching and it begins with a limited release of the The Allen-Sand. What’s in the box? Click through and find out.
The Allen is the first shoe released by ARCH in the year 2011. It’s been a long and difficult process, but the goal to get at least one release done this year was accomplished.
To get a closer more detailed look at the Allen click on the link below for the description in detail.
What's In The Box?
The top panel box label
The Allen: Casual shoe is on its way!!!! I’m excited as usual, but now comes the hard part. I have to sell the sneaker. I still have a photoshoot to do for The Allen and I have to get the marketing materials right, but I think the colorway is classic for this time of year and may replace Timbs as an alternative shoe for the Fall/Winter months (Well when it isn’t snowing, you get the picture).
Up until this point I haven’t leaked any pics of the shoes, but some shots are in from the factory. Instead of posting them to Facebook, I will post them here. I’d like to get feedback on what you think, but I know it will be hard from the pictures which are not the clear and are packed in boxes. Also included in these photos are shots of other samples of The Allen. These are made with leather and suede instead of canvas. In the production model I will use denim and canvas and not leather on the side panels. Okay I’m shutting my mouth and letting you check out the pics prior to shipment. The boxes are in and I have to fold and make those, I also have the labels pictured above coming in. Hard work indeed but this is great.
Stay Motivated
Not a great shot, but you get the idea
This is the limited release Allen: Sand, these are not great pics, but just a preview. Let me know what you think
Insoles
A box full of Sand
Mock Sketch of The Allen
After a long summer of testing and trouble with ebay, all of the setbacks, hopes, dreams and redeveloping my business plan have led to this, The Allen. When I first launched ARCH, my first release was The Tori. The shoes that followed went back to my athletic roots. The Allen can be considered a low cut version of the Tori, but with a bit more cool. If you have been following the site and the ARCH story, you know the CG097II was supposed to be the next release. The problem is running shoes are technical, but that isn’t the reason for the change of heart. Running shoe sales tend to slow down in the winter months. Launching a running shoe from a new company with a 90 dollar plus price point is a risky endeavor. (The money to do the running shoe was pretty steep too, but we will gloss over that 
The picture above is obviously a sketch and therefore it doesn’t tell the whole story of The Allen and who the market will be. Here is the breakdown of why The Allen will be a classic silhouette.
1. It was not made for the Jordan Brand crowd. My market is not 15-30 years old with this shoe. My birthday this year was special. I realized I had far surpassed the age that most men who were born and raised where I was from were supposed to succumb to the streets or even worse fates. I am a reformed sneaker head who still has a nice collection of sneakers, but what I realized was that I was lacking a casual, mature, jazzy shoe that wasn’t a dress shoe and could be worn on Casual workdays or to a nice club where there was poetry, indee, jazz aesthetics being catered to. I needed a shoe that allowed me to say, I’m getting older, but I’m not trying to revert to a second childhood.
2. The shoe was made for the style conscious man who likes quality materials and realizes that just because I’m old doesn’t mean that I don’t care about fashion. I tend to think that market is the 32-48 year old group. We are the Hip-Hop generation and shoes matter (But that 60 year old dude on X Factor is changing my demographics).
3. When you blend suede and canvas, you not only get a shoe that can be worn in the fall/winter months, you also get materials that are becoming standard since I made the Tori.
4. A leather insole is quality personified.
The Allen is a mature shoe. It’s not for men who care what their friends think about their choice of women. It’s not for men who are afraid to show their intelligence. It’s not for men who can’t appreciate the reunion of Black Star, and who have never listened to A Love Supreme from beginning to end. It’s not for men who don’t treat women with respect. In other words, it’s not for boys. It’s casual, mature, and jazz, personified.
Coming in November in very limited quantities.
Materials: Brushed Suede, denim canvas, leather insoles
