A felt-like fuzz covers more than half of the sole of the sneaker. Flickr/Chris Evans If you've ever wondered why your Converse All Stars have fuzzy bottoms, you may be disappointed to find out that it has less to do with "increased traction" (as some have speculated) and everything to do with the almighty dollar.
The felt soles on the bottoms of the All Stars — and other imported soles — are a perfect example of "tariff engineering," explains the patent blog Gazetc.com.
Translation: The outsourced soles are specially designed to fetch a lower US import tax.
In this case, the special felt bottoms of the All Star cover more than 50% of the shoe's sole and allow it to be classified as a "slipper."
Here's the kicker: Tariff rates for importing shoes into the US can be as high as 37.5% and vary widely based on material used, but classifying the shoe as a slipper guarantees the rate at 3%. When you sell in the volume that Converse does, this adds up to a significant amount of savings. In 2013, shoe importers paid the US $2.4 billion in duty fees, according to trade publication Joc.com.
Gazetc unearthed this weird fact after searching the patent code of the sole (6,430,844) on Google's patent searching engine. What comes back is not a patent for a shoe at all, but something that looks like — and is described as — a slipper.
The patent. US Patent and Trademark Office
Fortunately, the fuzzy bottom doesn't affect the performance of the shoe.
Though some have complained that their Chucks tend to be slippery out of the box, many have reported that the fuzz is not permanent and completely rubs off after being worn for about a month.
tastefulsideboobs on May 23rd, 2020 at 21:02 UTC »
It’s called tariff engineering and is very common in all types of products. Ever wonder why certain products are plastic when glass would make more sense? Plastic tariffs are cheaper than glass tariffs. Ever seen a shirt with a tiny pocket in the seam below the waist and wonder wtf? Pockets below the waist change the tariff rate. If you think companies engineering their products to fit into different tariff brackets is unfair, you should really look into why certain products have different tariff rates in the first place. Corporations have a hand in helping shape what types of products get certain rates. It’s all a convoluted mess of politicians and corporations trying to make more money. The issue isn’t tariff engineering. It’s the way tariffs are set up in general.
Source: licensed customs broker, do this for a living day in and day out
Stratocast7 on May 23rd, 2020 at 20:30 UTC »
I believe it was the car manufacturer Noble that wasn't allowed to sell their cars in the US as they did not meet emissions or some other regulations. So what they did was sold the car as a kit where the chassis and power train were separate as regulations are alot different for kit cars. Then they had certain shops that would put it together for you.
Kijafa on May 23rd, 2020 at 20:02 UTC »
Subaru once put carpets and seats in the bed of their "Brat" light truck to get around "goods-transporting truck" tariffs.
Of course people who wanted to haul stuff just tore the carpet and seats out, and transported goods anyway (or so the story goes).
Source