It isnÍt the popularity nor the cutting edge design but the consistency of a particular vision and the influence it has over the rest of the field. This is the impact of footwear labelæCLAE and its co-founder Sung Choi. Over the last 10 years, it helped to nurture a market virtually non-existing and propagated the concept of causal lifestyle sneakers to a wider audience. Not one to rest on his laurels, Choi is going on a sort of exploration by combining fabrics usually with no association to footwear. The outcome is one of textured designs and patterned silhouettes like the Hamilton, CLAEÍs new blucher toe mid-top, or Richards, ChoiÍs own interpretation of the classic Chelsea boots. In between the soft boiled wool and waxed canvas there will a tactile experience for everyone within CLAEÍs first delivery for Fall/Winter 2012, all available now at CLAE ïs online shop and its new Our Favorite Shop flagship store in Los Angeles.