BBC Learnings · Section 10

The rise in popularity of the comfy shoe

Neil, are you wearing high heels? Hang on. Not any more. How did they feel?

Level: B1 · 120 sentences

Transcript

1. Neil, are you wearing high heels?
2. Hang on. Not any more. How did they feel?
3. Agony. How do women do this?
4. Why on earth are you wearing them?
5. Well, I wanted to look fashionable and cool.
6. Everyone knows that high heels are the height of fashion
7. on the street, at work and at parties.
8. I'm ready for anything!
9. I'm not so sure you're right there, Neil.
10. Our topic for this 6 Minute English is about the rise
11. in popularity of the comfy shoe.
12. However, before we step into that, let's have our quiz question.
13. Which famous sports clothing company's first pair of running shoes was inspired
14. by the square pattern on a waffle-making machine?
15. Was it a adidas, b Nike or c Puma?
16. Well, I have no idea so I'm going
17. to say adidas because that's got marks.
18. We'll have to wait until later to find out.
19. So, what do you think of when I say comfy shoes?
20. Well, comfy is an adjective,
21. which is an informal way of saying comfortable.
22. So I suppose we're talking trainers,
23. but I was always told that trainers weren't appropriate for everywhere,
24. like work and many formal or social places
25. such as parties, bars and clubs.
26. Well, that certainly used to be the case,
27. but that may not be as true any more.
28. Victoria Moss is the senior fashion editor
29. at the Telegraph newspaper in the UK.
30. Here she is speaking on BBC Radio 4's Woman's Hour
31. about why trainers are considered more fashionable these days.
32. Is it something that's happened very recently?
33. Well, I think it's been sort of coming
34. on for a while and I think one thing
35. in fashion in the last ten years
36. has been a sort of mass casualisation of everything
37. and there's been a big streetwear trend
38. which has filtered through and that's...
39. So is it something that's happened very recently?
40. Apparently not, no.
41. She says that there's been a mass casualisation
42. of things over the last ten years.
43. Casualisation here means the process of becoming less formal and more relaxed.
44. More casual? Yes.
45. Society has relaxed its idea of what is considered formal or appropriate.
46. In addition, we're told there has been a big streetwear trend.
47. Streetwear is a style of casual clothing worn especially
48. by young people from urban settings.
49. That's the city.
50. This trend has filtered through. If something
51. filters through, it appears or happens gradually over time.
52. So presumably the trend for streetwear
53. filtered through from its specialised area
54. into mainstream fashion until everyone was following it.
55. Well, that explains why trainers are more fashionable these days,
56. but it doesn't explain why people are wearing them more.
57. Not everyone follows fashion, you know.
58. Yes, Neil, I can see that when I look at you.
59. But you're forgetting the comfy part.
60. Emma Supple is a podiatrist, a foot doctor,
61. who also spoke on Woman's Hour.
62. Here she is explaining why being comfy is so important.
63. What are people doing more these days that they weren't before?
64. So what we're actually talking about is actually people
65. for wellness walking more and doing more and they're not
66. going to do that in a lot of high heels.
67. So trainers are changing the materials.
68. There are now a lot of fabric trainers
69. and if you've inherited foot problems then that kind
70. of fabric they're wrapping around knobbly bits and knobbly bits hurt.
71. What are people doing more?
72. They're walking more and they're doing it for wellness.
73. Wellness is the state of being healthy.
74. As a result, trainers have had to change
75. their materials to fabric to make themselves more comfortable.
76. Not only that, but if you have any foot problems,
77. these fabric or cloth trainers are better
78. at fitting to the shape of your foot.
79. That means if you have any knobbly bits,
80. they won't hurt as much, which makes trainers more comfortable for everyone.
81. Knobbly is an adjective that means lumpy –
82. having many raised areas on the surface.
83. So it's the combination of a change in fashion
84. and a change in materials that's made trainers
85. and other comfy shoes more popular than ever, right?
86. Exactly.
87. And hard on the heels of that revelation,
88. we can reveal the answer to our quiz question.
89. Earlier, I asked which famous sports clothing
90. company's first pair of running shoes was inspired
91. by the square pattern on a waffle-making machine?
92. Was it… a Adidas, b Nike or c Puma?
93. Neil, you said?
94. I said Adidas. Sorry, the answer is Nike.
95. In 1971 their co-founder Bill Bowerman was having breakfast
96. when he saw the waffle machine
97. and it inspired the design of Nike's first running shoe.
98. Let's hope it was a comfy one.
99. Aha! It must be time to review our vocabulary.
100. So first we had comfy,
101. an adjective which is an informal way of saying comfortable.
102. Then we had casualisation.
103. This describes the process of things,
104. such as fashion or behaviour, becoming less formal and more casual.
105. Next was streetwear.
106. That describes a style of casual clothing that's worn especially
107. by young people who live in cities.
108. Then we heard filtered through. If something
109. filters through, it appears or happens gradually over time.
110. For example, has it filtered through to you yet,
111. Neil, that high heels were a mistake?
112. Yes, it has. They didn't do anything for my wellness,
113. I can tell you, which means the state of being healthy.
114. And lastly we had knobbly.
115. This adjective means lumpy or having
116. many raised areas on the surface,
117. like skin when it gets cold.
118. Do you have anything knobbly on your foot, Neil?
119. Probably. My feet are killing me!
120. Ha ha! I think we've found your Achilles heel.