It’s been several years since we wrote about Keds Studio, but recently we came across an initiative that’s strikingly similar but with a competitive twist. Based in Italy, AliveShoes is an online platform that allows consumers to design their own sneakers and then sell them online.

Aiming to “disrupt the shoe industry and open the market to new talents,” in the company’s own words, AliveShoes plans to give footwear lovers a way to create, produce and sell shoes worldwide. Whereas many “design your own” platforms are open to anyone, however, AliveShoes is now accepting applications through Facebook from those interested in being one of the 30 shoe designers it will choose in the first half of this year. The deadline for applications is June 21, and from 67 applications received so far the company has already chosen 10 designers, it says. Those selected will get access to AliveShoes’ digital tools, create their own shop and brand, and sell their sneakers online with direct support from the company including production and distribution; participation is free. In the video below, company CEO Luca Botticelli explains the premise in more detail:

We’ve seen plenty of design-your-own offerings over the years, but it’s interesting to see AliveShoes hand-picking the participants for its platform. Fashion-minded entrepreneurs: one to partner with on parts of the production or distribution processes?

Website: www.aliveshoes.com
Contact: www.aliveshoes.com/about

Businesses looking for eco-friendly notepads can already go to Pinball Publishing’s ScoutBooks, which are also fully customizable. However, Italy-based stationery firm Favini has taken the eco mindset one step further and has now created Crush – a paper stock designed for publications and packaging that uses organic materials in place of tree pulp.

After taking the company 18 months to develop, around 15 percent of virgin tree pulp used in the Crush paper stock is saved by mixing in other organic materials such as corn, orange, kiwi, olive, almond, hazelnut and coffee beans, which are more easily renewed than whole trees. In total, some 30 percent of the stock is comprised of post-consumer waste. The use of such ingredients gives the paper its range of colors, as well as a slightly flecked texture. The stock has been tested for major print projects and – according to Favini – works well for numerous applications, from corporate brochures to product packaging.

For businesses or publishers aiming to cut down their carbon footprint when embarking on a major printing project, Crush could help them do so while providing a unique material to work with.

Website: www.favini.com
Contact: www.favini.com/graphic_specialities/en/contact.php

Spotted by: Alexia M

Springwise has covered several ventures offering products tailored to babies, from clothes subscriptions to organic food. Italian fashion label Dolce & Gabbana has now gone one step further with its Baby Fragrance perfume.

Bearing in mind that many parents may not want to mask the smell of their child, the creators of the perfume apparently used hints of bergamot, honey and musk to accentuate the natural odour of newborns. The fragrance has been made without alcohol to ensure babies’ skin is not affected by the solution, according to the brand’s lifestyle magazine Swide. Firmly marketed towards parents who want to give their child some luxury, the perfume comes in a sleek glass bottle with cherub detailing.

Many parents already use scented products such as talcum powder and baby lotion, so perhaps the fashion brand’s vision isn’t too far-fetched. Baby Fragrance is available to buy from the new Dolce & Gabbana Corso Venezia 7 store in Venice, which places an emphasis on luxury family-based products. Are there other typically adult products that could be given a makeover for babies? Or are some products best saved for adulthood?

Website: www.dolcegabbana.com
Contact: www.twitter.com/dolcegabbana

We’ve seen numerous efforts over the years to purify water and make it safe for drinking, but it wasn’t until just recently that we came across one invention designed specifically with desalinization in mind. Sure enough, Eliodomestico is an eco-distiller that uses solar power to make salt water drinkable.

Created by Italian designer Gabriele Diamanti, Eliodomestico is an open source project designed to provide safe drinking water for people in developing countries. Essentially, the device works like an upside-down coffee maker to produce five liters of fresh water every day. Users begin by adding sea water in the morning. Over the course of the day, the heat of the sun causes steam to rise into a water-tight boiler. The steam is then forced down through an expansion nozzle and condenses against the lid of a collection basin. At the end of the day, users can remove the basin, which is full of fresh water and designed for transport on the head. In the video below, Diamanti explains the premise in more detail:

Eliodomestico is made from widely available materials and requires no electricity or filters; maintenance is simple, Diamanti says. So far, it has already won a Core77 Design Award and was a finalist at the Prix Émile Hermès 2011 competition. Social entrepreneurs: one to get involved in?

Website: www.gabrielediamanti.com/projects/eliodomestico
Contact: info@gabrielediamanti.com

Spotted by: Smith Alan

Festival organisers have already utilized RFID-enabled wristbands to make it easier for music lovers to update their online profiles on-the-go. Bringing this concept into everyday life, Italian jeans brand Replay has created its Social Denim range, which incorporates a device to enable wearers to instantly share their emotions or location.

The jeans contain a fifth pocket made of vinyl, designed to hold a small Bluetooth transmitter, which can be coupled with the customer’s smartphone. They can then use the handy device to click one of eight mood buttons, ranging from positive to negative, or where they are at that moment. The device also sends notifications to the phone when it detects a nearby Replay Moment, where the customer can receive discounts or get a chance to connect with the brand. Due to be launched in December, the jeans will be available in regular-slim or skinny fit for men and skinny or baby boot fit for women at a price of between EUR 150 to EUR 199.

Although the Social Denim range merely makes interacting with social networks slightly easier, it could be an indication of the digital direction clothes are headed towards. Are there other ways clothing could play a more integrated part in our hyper-connected society?

Website: www.replay.it
Contact: www.shop.replay.it/en/Contact-us

Spotted by: Grietje Vermoortele

While Alcoa’s photocatalytic panels offer architects the possibility of creating buildings that can help reduce impurities in the air around them, Italian artist Andreco has come up with a different use of the technology that may be more aesthetically appealing. His Philosophical Tree mural installed in Bologna uses paint that helps to tackle smog in the city.

Created as part of the Frontier Project, which aims to investigate new forms of street art, Andreco painted the 59-feet-high piece on the side of a five-storey building, using photocatalytic paint that absorbs nitrogen monoxide, otherwise known as smog, in the atmosphere. Similar in many ways to the “Respira” project we saw earlier this year, the Philosophical Tree also demonstrates that environmentally friendly initiatives need not be an eye sore on the surrounding area.

The work could provide inspiration for local authorities looking to kill two birds with one stone when commissioning new public works. One for forward-thinking public officials?

Website: www.andreco.org
Contact: andrecoandreco@gmail.com

Spotted by: Murray Orange

Apps such as Wallcast may make it possible to have an ever-changing background wallpaper on a desktop computer, but achieving a similar effect offline with wallpaper in the physical world has generally been more or less unthinkable without great effort and expense. Enter Milan design duo Carnovsky, whose RGB wallpaper transforms its appearance under different kinds of light.

To create its mesmerizing wallpaper, Carnovsky uses three different and overlapping images, each one in a primary color. The net appearance from these three layers is “unexpected and disorienting,” the duo explains. “The colors mix up, the lines and shapes entwine, becoming oneiric and not completely clear.” The wallpaper comes into its own, however, when it is viewed under colored light. Red, green and blue (RGB) lights each reveal one of the wallpaper’s three layers, bringing the corresponding image to the forefont. When the light color is changed, the same thing happens again but with a different layer, making it appear as if the wallpaper has changed.

Also available using Carnovsky’s RGB technique are prints, scarves and skins for electronic devices. Style-minded retailers around the globe: one to get involved in?

Website: www.carnovsky.com/RGB_wallpapers.htm
Contact: carnovsky@carnovsky.com

Regular Springwise readers may recall Dishcrawl, the California-based venture we covered last year that invites foodies to sample four restaurants in a single night. Now taking a similar approach to the various regional cuisines of Italy, il Treno di Sapori — or “Train of Taste” — offers gastronomic excursions featuring delicacies of the regions it passes through.

The Train of Taste travels on Italy’s Brescia-Edolo railways from Iseo through the Franciacorta region along Lake Iseo and through Valle Camonica. As it travels, tourists on its two cars can not only enjoy the scenery, but they can also taste typical products and dishes of the regions they see, accompanied by local wines. Professional guides are on hand to curate the sensory experience, and both electric cars included in the specially refurbished train are equipped with audio and video broadcasting systems, as well as external cameras that give passengers a large-screen view of the landscape passing by.

With a capacity of 83 passengers, the Train of Taste prices its excursions at EUR 54. Entrepreneurs in scenic regions around the world: be inspired!

Website: www.area3v.com/treno-dei-sapori
Contact: info@trenodeisapori.it

Spotted by: Gabriella Piergianni

Innovations that enable city-dwellers to grow their own plants and food have been coming thick and fast over the past couple of years, with new ideas such as spiral-shaped growing environments helping to maximise the use of space. Now, DesignLibero’s Green Wheel provides a rotary garden compact enough to fit on an indoor shelf, with aesthetics to match.

In order to allow astronauts to have access to fresh produce while on long space missions, NASA developed the rotary garden as a way to grow herbs and leaves without soil. Using the same technology, the Green Wheel is a relatively miniature version that can be housed indoors. While previous versions have been bulky and definitely look like a complicated piece of equipment, Italy-based DesignLibero has streamlined the aesthetics of the system so as to make it an attractive appliance for the home. The company aims to make the device an “iconic object” and thus has taken cues from the iPod with its plain white outer case, which hides the engine that rotates the plants, as well as a water reservoir and a pump which automatically irrigates the system. The organic matter gets its light from a strip in the center of the system as well as a ring around the outside. Users of the Green Wheel can also manage their gardening using their smartphones or tablet devices through an app which allows control of temperature and light levels and warns if water levels are low.

Much like Urbio’s magnetic indoor gardens featured on these pages recently, the Green Wheel could be implemented in apartments, offices or other green-less city spaces to brighten up the environment or provide a way to grow food. As for food businesses in urban areas – could this cut down on outgoings and improve your environmental footprint?

Website: www.designlibero.com
Contact: www.designlibero.com/contact-us

While recent innovations such as DOGTV may provide pet owners with short-term respite from entertaining their pet, there are occasions when people may need a more long-term solution. Catering specifically for those dealing with hectic marriage preparations, Italy-based Weddings & Dogs aims to provide dog-sitting from the planning stages to post-honeymoon.

Customers have an initial interview with the company to discuss plans for the wedding and to allow specialists to meet the dog. Dog-sitting services are available at any time during the organization of the big day and pets will be taken care of throughout the duration of the wedding itself. To ensure the pooch is part of the celebrations, a dog photographer will be on hand to capture images of newlyweds with their pet to be included in an album produced with input from the couple. Weddings & Dogs also has a team of grooming professionals that will prepare the animal and fit it out in clothing that matches the theme chosen by the husband and wife. Finally, the service offers accessories such as handmade wedding favors, invitations, and cake toppers which are designed around the family pet.

We’ve already seen a slew of pet-oriented services – from dog-friendly hotels to social networks for pet-sitters. Is there any canine niche still to be filled?

Website: www.dogwedding.it
Contact: info@dogwedding.it

Spotted by: Gabriella Piergianni