I Love Lucy

In the mid 90's, Sommers introduced a product made using a new technology. That is not actually true. It was new to Sommers and our customers, but the process was discovered in the early 1900's. A  French chemist looked through some glass, stirring rods lying on his lab table. He noticed images under the rods became magnified and changed as he walked past them. Lenticular lenses were discovered. http://www.lenstar.org/history/ch3.htm

Most people (of my generation or older) became aware of lenticular printing from a free prize in Cracker Jack boxes. Called a "Winkie," a small, plastic card when tilted showed an eye opening and closing. This is a simple, "flip" animation of only two frames. How is it made?

An image of an open eye and another image of a closed eye are sliced into thin strips then interlaced- woven- by computer. Each slice is printed alternately in perfect registration behind a lens made up of many "lenticules"- the ridges you can feel on the surface of the lens. When you look through the lens at one angle an open eye appears; when the angle of the lens changes, the closed eye is seen.

Technological progress enabled higher resolution printing, finer computer interlacing behind better lenses. Put it all together and Sommers became able to print, interlace and register up to 30 separate pictures- a true animation!

Sommers' earliest lenticulars featured 3-D honeycomb and moire patterns.

The "Lenticular in Rolls" collection was shown to Van's Sneakers at an annual, Las Vegas WSA show. The World Shoe Association has a major exhibition for shoe and sneaker manufacturers. They ordered samples of this eye-catching product. Vans was beginning to break out of their niche, skate boarder market in southern California to go International. Timing is everything in plastics and skateboarding.

Sneakers, twenty-five years ago, were available in white canvas, white leather or white synthetic, perhaps black. Novelty materials on boldly designed sneaker uppers were not considered until companies Airwalk, LA Gear, Van's and the like, stepped into the picture. By 1996, it was time to shake things up and Sommers jumped on board. And hovered on them too...

...speaking of boards - 
                                     "Back to the Future" hoverboard and Sommers' pink "Honeycomb LIR"

Van's loved "Lenticular in Rolls." They affectionately named this sneaker, "The Lucy." Amazingly, this PVC, was produced in our Connecticut, USA factory and exported to Vans' factories in China. Shipping plastics made-in-the-U.S.A overseas to China was a first in and of itself.

Order quantities skyrocketed. Van's purchased many thousands of yards. Then Sommers received a phone call. "STOP THE PRESSES!"

Van's informed us they were shocked that 96% of "Lucy" sneakers were cracking mere days after sale. Returns of 96%? This degree is unheard of for any product. Consumers loved "Lucy" and, within days, they brought all of them back to the store to be repaired or replaced.

Van's did not make a claim nor seek monetary credit for damages. They had not provided Sommers with specifications for the vinyl; we didn't even know they were using the goods for the entire upper! We thought it was for an applique design, like a stripe or flame. Nor did Van 's conduct basic tests such as flexing, cold crack, abrasion on this new material. All they were sure of was: "Lucy" looked great, sold like crazy and she was the hottest selling shoe in Vans' history, at the time.

Rather than blame Sommers, Van's begged us to solve the problem by softening the PVC to improve flex strength. However, it was difficult conveying soft PVC through our extruding process without distorting the lens. So Van's redesigned Lucy by adding a polyurethane support over the flex point and she kept on jumping off the shelf. This near-fiasco ended  well as order quantities doubled as retailers replaced damaged sneakers and sold new pairs.

       Recent passing of Van's founder, James van Doren

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/06/business/james-van-doren-dies-at-72-created-vans-canvas-shoes.html?_r=1

                                                                                                                                   "LUCY" in Moire "LIR" (note improved flex point on orange shoe)

Lucy's footprints quickly led directly to Beaverton, Oregon- Nike's headquarters. A letter arrived at our Connecticut factory requesting a salesperson to come to the Nike campus and make a presentation. I jumped at the chance. Hah!...The Jumpman, Michael Jordan, was about to go one-on-one with Fred Schecter.

  Jordan XIII                                                             Life-changing experience. Future blog

 

 

 

 

 

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