In Their Shoes 2013

Warner Music Australia with support from Converse, Sharpie & eBay are delighted to announce the launch of their major charity Auction to help raise funds this October during Cancer Awareness Month.

Inspired after generating funds of over $120k for the National Breast Cancer Foundation in 2012, Warner Music Australia has spent the past 18 months creating the inaugural In Their Shoes initiative.  In Their Shoes is the aptly named major worldwide creative project which has seen musicians across the globe come together in the name of charity to hand design Converse sneakers.

The inspiration behind In Their Shoes was born on a beautiful Sydney summer's day, when Warner Music's blog Cool Accidents set about to film an -Under the Bridge Session' with U.S indie band Grouplove.  But before filming could even start, what really caught the crew's eye was a pair of sneakers.  What at first appeared to be a pair of custom designed Converse sneakers worn by the bands tour manager, in fact turned out to be a unique one off design by the bands vocalist and Artist in her own right, Hannah Hooper.

Like all great ideas this simple yet uniquely created Converse sneaker inspired the beginning of Warner Music/Cool Accident's In their Shoes initiative.  Over the course of 18 months local and touring musicians were asked to create a design with nothing more than a pair of plain white Converse sneakers & sharpie fabric markers.  The artists in turn put their own unique stamp on the sneakers adding colour, design, humour and of course, their very own personal touch.

The result was an overwhelming 70 pairs of sneakers designed by a diverse range of musicians from all over the world and from all walks of life.  Contributing Artists include Bruno Mars, The Black Keys, Ed Sheeran, James Blunt, New Order, Kimbra, Macklemore and Ryan Lewis, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Skrillex and of course, the pair that started it all, those designed by Grouplove.

These hand designed, one of a kind works of art will be auctioned off at the end of October via a global auction on eBay with proceeds going to the National Breast Cancer Foundation or Charity of the artist's choice.

A Public Exhibition will be held from midday to 7pm on Sunday October 27th at The Standard in Sydney where all 70 sneaker designs will be on display.  Entry is all ages and by gold coin donation.

The auction, hosted on eBay, will go live on Thursday October 24th at 6pm on the dedicated page Ebay.com.au/intheirshoes and bidders will be able to start their bids from $99.   There will also be a shareable function that will post people's favourite shoes to their social channels.  The auction will close on Tuesday October 29th.