A Look at the Shoes From Sanchez, Cosentino, and Samuelsson

Grid View

• Whole collection
• Samuelsson toe detail
• Chefs shoes and charcuterie
• Cosentino tripe with poster
• Sanchez with poster
• Samuelsson with poster
• Sanchez skull embroidery
• Cosentino tattoo shoe insert
• Sanchez white skull
• Sanchez embossed skulls
• Cosentino and meat cones
• Sanchez Skull Shoe 2
• Tripe print
• Sanchez shoes
• Skull with blurb
• Tripe and promo blurb
• Samuelsson

Last night Mozo, the maker of slip-resistant work shoes, unveiled the "signature footwear collection" made in partnership with chefs Marcus Samuelsson, Chris Cosentino, and Aaron Sanchez. The goal is light-weight kitchen shoes (10 oz., on par with athletic performance footwear) that also look good. Said Sanchez "This is New York, man! People look at you and they look down at your shoes."

Samuelsson's offerings are simple and sleek; one pair adds details like Samuelsson's name on the toe and a tiny Brooklyn Bridge silhouette on basic black; the other splits the body with white and upgrades to fabric reminiscent of patent leather.

Cosentino's shoes incorporated elements of his body art. His kicks also include one tripe-print (naturally) and one black, Adidas-esque option which features a copy of his 16th Century English pig-butchering diagram tattoo inside. He explained that his aesthetics for the gumsoles were in line with his childhood skater mentality: "I spend more time in my chef whites than street clothes and I'm not going to kick it in sneakers in the kitchen. But these I could easily wear on the street—no problem." One of his shoes also say "Shut Up and Cook" along the footbed.

Sanchez saw the bad-ass potential of designing his own shoes, too. He elaborated: "When I was a kid, I always thought it was the coolest thing that basketball players got to design their own shoes." His four offerings in the line pay tribute to his heritage with one shoe featuring the Mexican flag and three Dia de Los Muertos skull-themed options. Plus, they make his feet feel "yummy": "I have big ol' tamale feet—flat and wide—and the shoes contour to even weird things like mine!"

And ladychefs take heart! While the Chef Signature Collection is designed to be unisex, Mozo is currently in talks with a mystery woman. While they won't say who she is yet, the company hopes to have glitter-less and flower-less but more feminine options from a female celebrity chef.

The Mozo all-star chefs' shoes are also making cooks look better for a cause. Brand president Stuart Jenkins announced that Mozo would be donating $10,000 in the chefs' honor to the Careers through Culinary Arts Program (C-CAP). Students, faculty, and staff of C-CAP will also receive 50 percent off all Mozo products and scholarship students might also receive free shoes.

The shoes will be sold on Zappos.com starting around May with a suggested retail price of $69.95.

—Hilary Tuttle

· Mozo Shoes [Official Site]
· All Marcus Samuelsson Coverage on Eater [-E-]
· All Chris Cosentino Coverage on Eater [-E-]
· All Aaron Sanchez Coverage on Eater [-E-]