Shoes Designed by Chefs

Mario Batali made the neon orange Croc a household item. Now other chefs are jumping on the shoe bandwagon. But who better to create a line of shoes than three chefs who spend an inordinate amount of time of their feet?

Designed by chefs Chris Cosentino, Marcus Samuelsson and Aarón Sanchez, in conjunction with Mozo, the maker of slip-resistant work shoes, the Sharkz line of footwear weigh in at a mere eight ounces in the women’s version and 10 ounces in men’s. They slip on easily and are machine washable. For extra comfort, each shoe includes the Mozo gel insole for extra shock absorption, and a broad toe for added comfort. 

Now for the fun part—picking your style. Mozoshoes.com lets you narrow down your search by clicking on different needs, such as surfaces that deal well with grease, dough/bakery, dry or soapy, as well as types of soles, which can be max, hybrid or self-cleaning. The bold designs in the existing Sharkz line includes Sharkz Check, which looks like typical white-and-black checked chef’s pants, the limited-edition Sharkz Egg, which has the image of a cracked egg on top, and—the pork lovers’ choice—Sharkz Bacon, which lays images of bacon over your toes. Prices range from $59.95 to $69.95.

This isn’t the first foray into fashion for one of these chefs. Cosentino, executive chef at Incanto in San Francisco, previously designed Gluttony Pants with the company Betabrand, which have extra buttons that allow the wearer to expand their waistline when they overeat. Samuelsson is executive chef of Harlem’s Red Rooster, where President Obama had a recent dinner event, winner of season two of “Top Chef Masters” and the youngest chef to be awarded two three-star ratings from The New York Times. Sanchez is chef and co-owner of Centrico in New York, and he partners with Cosentino on the Food Network series “Chefs vs. City.” —Denise Shoukas

Denise Shoukas is a regular foodspring.com contributor
and is the author of foodspring’s food forager blog.

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