Backdate to 12/08
Bowling in small doses (say, once every five years) is OK since you get to wear stylistically and historically codified footwear (like an interactive module in a shoe museum). While bowling has inspired fashion oriented footwear, my minimal field research shows little evidence that streetwear has influenced bowling shoe designs. At Timber Bowl, in Springfield, Oregon, I did see a poster advertising a contemporary line of bowling shoes by Dexter (I didn't even know that bowling type shoes were available for sale to the public). But I'm not worried since most of the Dexter styling updates go no further than velcro closures or a special high top edition. For the most part, the overarching Dexter design concept remains firmly rooted in saddle shoe stylings from the 1950s.
