FUSE Create and Soles4Souls Canada hijacked holiday shopping season with a storefront that looks like every trendy sneaker launch you’ve scrolled past—except the shoes on display are beaten, worn and falling apart.
The Toronto indie shop transformed 45 Ossington Avenue into a pop-up that mimics the aesthetic of high-demand sneaker releases. Product pedestals. Bold typography. QR codes. All the trappings of hype culture, but instead of limited-edition Jordans, you get shoes held together by hope and duct tape.
The message lands without a word of copy: everyone deserves a good pair of shoes—not ones falling apart.
When the drop is dignity, not drip
Running through December, the display features four “signature styles” that look like they’ve walked through a decade of hard living. There’s the mud-caked Converse knockoff, the disintegrating kids’ sneaker, the running shoe that’s run its last mile. Each sits on a pristine acrylic stand with the kind of reverence usually reserved for $400 collaborations.
The kicker? A QR code directs viewers to donate directly to Soles4Souls Canada, which provides shoes to people impacted by poverty. “For many of the people we support, a pair of shoes isn’t just footwear—it’s dignity, mobility and the ability to take the next step in life,” says Lisa O’Keefe, Vice President of Community Partnerships at Soles4Souls Canada.
Since 2016, Soles4Souls Canada has distributed more than 2.1 million pairs of shoes and pieces of clothing across the world. The need is staggering: around 300 million people globally cannot afford shoes at all. But research from Soles4Souls shows the impact is tangible—4 in 5 recipients reported improved physical and mental wellbeing after receiving donated footwear. Half of adult recipients returned to work, while 1 in 5 secured new employment opportunities.
The campaign borrows the visual language of consumer desire and flips it—using the same design codes that make you want limited-edition sneakers to make you think about the people who can’t afford any sneakers at all.
The anti-holiday hustle
The campaign extends beyond the Ossington window with temporary in-store displays at the HOKA store in Toronto’s Eaton Centre, where shoppers hunting shoes can pause to consider the privilege of choice.
“Our goal is to show, in the simplest way possible, that shoes most of us take for granted can be life-changing for someone else,” says Steve Miller, Partner and Executive Creative Director at FUSE Create. “We wanted our storefront to stop people in their tracks and get them thinking.”
The work positions worn-out footwear as aspirational—not because anyone wants these specific shoes, but because they represent what’s missing for too many people. It’s a smart flip on launch culture that doesn’t lecture or guilt-trip. It shows you the gap and lets you decide what to do about it.
The stuff that matters
Holiday campaigns usually traffic in warmth, joy and the occasional dancing Santa. This one traffics in uncomfortable truths wrapped in slick creative—the kind of work that makes you stop scrolling not because it’s heartwarming, but because it’s honest.
The display runs through December, which means Toronto’s holiday shoppers will spend the next few weeks walking past a reminder that not everyone gets to participate in the seasonal buying frenzy. For some people, a single pair of functional shoes would be the best gift they’ve received in years.
FUSE and Soles4Souls Canada aren’t asking you to feel bad about your sneaker collection. They’re asking you to consider that the cost of one pair of limited-edition kicks could provide shoes for multiple people who need them.
Learn more
FUSE Create
Soles4Souls Canada
Steve Miller LinkedIn
FUSE Create LinkedIn
Contact: 416.368.3873
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