Print

Email story

Comment

Email editor

Why walk if you can roll?

The latest fashion fad in footwear is flying off the shelves and catching on as a fun way to get around.

By ANDREA CHANG
Published July 31, 2006

	[Times photo: Douglas R. Clifford]
	Shay Phillips, 9, left, and his brother Brett, 12, glide on their Heelys down a sidewalk outside of their home in Tarpon Springs on Tuesday. "I think they are really cool," Shay said of the fancy footwear on wheels. "When you get the hang of them you can go anywhere."

TAMPA - Assistant manager Sarah Faber answers calls on a recent afternoon with a perky: "Thank you for calling Champs Sports. We have Heelys."

The wheeled shoes have become the new "It" item for kids. Local retailers can't keep them in stock, despite the $60 to $100 price tag. Schools have even banned them.

"It's like the Giga Pets, the Furbys, the Elmos," said Faber, who works at the Champs in International Plaza in Tampa.

A removable wheel hidden in the heel of each shoe allows Heelys wearers to glide around much like they are on roller skates. A wedge-like tool pops the wheel out, turning Heelys into a regular pair of shoes.

The Texas company Heeling Sports Limited has sold about 4.5-million pairs since they went on the market in 2000. The shoes are distributed in more than 60 countries. From the start, the company banked on word-of-mouth to promote the product, which can take time to pay off, said Mike Staffaroni, the company's president and CEO.

"For generations, kids have liked to skate," he said. "We just created a new form of skating."

Heelys have been popular in the Tampa Bay area for years. But recently, local retailers have seen sales take off. They attribute the boom to wider availability and advertising.

"Just now, all of a sudden, they're blowing up like crazy," said Jesse Harvey, 20, co-manager of Journeys in Tyrone Square Mall in St. Petersburg. "Once people even find out that we've got them in the stockroom, they're already sold. It's insane."

At Hibbett Sporting Goods in University Mall in Tampa, sales associate Elio Vazquez said people are constantly stopping by to ask about the shoes.

"Almost every adult that comes in here with a child is mainly only looking for Heelys," said Vazquez, 20.

On a recent afternoon at Tyrone Square Mall, Ashley McGowan zoomed around the food court, parents in tow. Ashley, 9, got her Heelys in June as a reward for good grades. Now, all her friends want a pair.

"You just get to roll around all the time," said Ashley, a fifth-grader at Southern Oak Elementary in Largo. "You don't have to walk or anything."

Ashley's mother, Bonnie McGowan, was hesitant about buying the shoes at first. She worried that Ashley would "fall down and break her neck." But eventually she gave in.

"She basically wheels around everywhere now," said McGowan, 43. "She's so addicted to wheeling that she doesn't even think about it. She just goes."

Retailers warn that heeling isn't as easy as it looks. They estimated it takes about a week to master the shoes, and sometimes longer for adults.

"We tried them at our store and we almost broke our necks," said Faber, the Champs assistant manager.

Brett Phillips, an eighth-grader at Tarpon Springs Middle School, got his Heelys as a Christmas present from his parents last year. His 9-year-old brother, Shay, also owns a pair.

"When you start off, it's really hard," Brett, 12, said. "You can't go too fast or you will fall on your face. I learned that the hard way."

The shoes are available in children's size 13 through adult size 12. About 10 percent of Heelys are available with two wheels in each heel, and all are designed to appeal to the young, with styles modeled after bulky "skater shoes" worn by skateboarders.

But they're not just for kids. Miami Heat basketball star Shaquille O'Neal owns a custom pair in size 22.

"I got a pair myself," said Buck Williams, 21, a floor supervisor at the Athlete's Foot in Tyrone Square Mall.

Williams expects Heelys to surpass the short life spans of other trendy consumer products.

"I think they're going to be around like skateboards," Williams said.

And maybe, even better.

"You can't skateboard everywhere, but you can Heely everywhere," Williams said. "Except school."

He's right. Pinellas County schools banned the shoes, along with roller skates and bedroom slippers. The same is true for Hillsborough County schools.

Students are allowed to wear them to school with the wheels removed.

"They use them the right way - they don't go tooling around campus with the wheel out," said Robert Lister, principal of Perkins Elementary School in St. Petersburg. "It's not like we check the bottom of kids' shoes on a daily basis."

[Last modified July 31, 2006, 01:57:28]