Issue #4(10) 2016 Lounge

Space research inspires innovation in fashion

Moon Boot advertising campaign clearly displaying the inspiration from Armstrong’s first lunar footprint. Innovative shape and material together with lightness and freedom of movement are the keywords of the success of the Italian brand.
Moon Boot advertising campaign clearly displaying the inspiration from Armstrong’s first lunar footprint. Innovative shape and material together with lightness and freedom of movement are the keywords of the success of the Italian brand.
Annalisa Dominoni Politecnico di Milano, Italy
Benedetto Quaquaro Politecnico di Milano, Italy

How many times has space inspired us? Our worlds of thought – science, philosophy, religion, technology, literature - have always looked into the universe. As have the many disciplines related to art and its practice - design, cinematography, communications, music and many more. The sky and stars continue to exert a strong influence on our culture - nowhere more so than in the world of fashion.

Innovation, shape, scenario and narration as well as technology can suggest to us new ideas and products destined to revolutionise the world of production and become best sellers on the international market. For example, from Neil Armstrong’s lunar boots came a pair of sneakers with a strong power of absorption thanks to technology transfer.

At the same time and looking from another point of view, the Moon landing has also inspired great ideas, like the Venetian entrepreneur Giancarlo Zanatta, who in 1970 decided to clone the ‘footprint’ of Armstrong’s foot to make the mythical Moon Boot snow boots.

A pair of snow boots evoking the greatest of conquests has a very strong appeal to consumers: the result of subliminal marketing combined with strong product innovation. The Moon Boot was created using nylon fibre, the maximum in terms of modernity during the Seventies, a time when mountain shoes continued to use traditional raw materials - the skins and furs of animal origin.

Find out more about the history of the Moon Boots and space's inspirational role in world fashion in the full version of the article, available now to our subscribers.

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