"America's Hottest Brands"

Cool.  I think the retailers have got the message:

"It isn't easy to reinvent a 75-year-old company, especially with a product that people have deemed 'ugly' and 'disgusting,' but that's exactly what Vibram has done in the past few years with its FiveFingers shoes brand....

"While FiveFingers began a PR campaign in January 2006, the company found its first consumer advocate in 'Barefoot' Ted McDonald, a barefoot enthusiast who ran the Boston Marathon in FiveFingers that April. News of the shoes began to spread quickly online; and by June 2006, Vibram was sold out of the product....

"With no traditional advertising to date, Vibram FiveFingers has grown from about 10,000 pairs sold in 2006 to 1.5 million pairs of shoes sold in the past year, with products tailored for activities from yoga to kayaking. It is projected to double those numbers in 2011, said Mr. Post...."

Not that anyone's counting, but that's a 14,900% increase in sales since 2006. If they hit next year's targets, and I don't know why they wouldn't, that's 29,900% since 2006. Not too shabby for ugly shoes.