If you even thought the dot tv extension was losing steam, ShoeTube.tv officially launched today.  The ShoeTube dot tv domain name says it all, its an online video channel dedicated to shoes, offering all of the social community features that many new sites offer today.  Check out the press release…

Powderhouse Productions today announced the launch of Shoetube.tv, a new online video channel and social community connecting women all across the Internet through their passion for shoes. Shoetube.tv features a unique blend of fun and fresh original video programs, user-generated videos and photos, and sponsor-created content. With blogs from professional writers and everyday shoe-lovers, forums, and articles on fashion news and trends, Shoetube.tv is the one-stop online destination to sate the cravings to share and shop for the shoe-obsessed woman.

Shoetube.tv steps down the runway in style as a fashion-forward first of its kind - serving shoe fanaticism with stylish tech savvy. The result is an innovative blend of entertaining videos, outrageous blogs and candid community discussions that offer a fresh approach to the online shoe shopping experience.

Shoetube.tv allows viewers to feed their foot fancy by tuning into six video programs, all encompassing the multifaceted and exciting world of shoes.

-- Behind the Boot provides unprecedented access to the makers and shakers of the shoe world: designers, fashionistas, photographers, and shoe-crazed celebrities

-- Real or Deal is a consumer information-rich studio show daring the viewer to guess which shoes are high-end designer and which are the knockoffs

-- Walk on By features fearless Shoetube.tv hosts accosting passersby throughout the country, to ask… “Where’d you get those shoes?”
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-- Shop Til You Drop takes us into the most thrilling, most beautiful, most trendy shoe stores in the world. A vicarious shopping thrill for all

-- Sole Deep proves that shoes are not frivolous with tours of shoe museums, interviews with artists as intellectual as Camille Paglia, and as fun as Liam Sullivan, creator of the viral web hit, “Shoes!”

-- The Daily Shoe is the first video that greets the viewer. Fresh and informal, Shoetube.tv host Austyn Mayfield directs viewers to new content, shows off a new pairs of shoes, and reports news from her shoe-centric view of the world

“It seems like everybody has a personal connection to their shoes, and everybody likes to share,” said Bill Lattanzi, creative director at Powderhouse Productions and editor of the Shoetube.tv site. “So we’re providing a central location online for women to connect, celebrate and share their love of shoes. From the blogs to the videos, you’ll find a lot of joy, a lot of fun, and some really personal surprises.”

The Shoetube.tv blogging team is diverse, connecting women all over the world. Contributors range from trendy Los Angeles fashionistas like Stevie Wilson to Houston columnist Marene Gustion to homemakers like Amy Ulibarri in Ely, Nevada. Young urban chic stars-to-be like Shaunte Miller in New York and Kahmia in Cleveland also make appearances. Shoetube.tv reports on the latest trends from fashion capitals throughout the world with reports from more than 50 bloggers skirting the globe in major cities like Atlanta, Miami, and Sydney, Australia.

According to NPD Group’s Consumer Tracking Service, the average woman keeps nearly two-dozen pairs of shoes in her closet, and always has the yearning to add more to her closet stiletto stash. With a quick click of the “ruby red” mouse, viewers can get a glimpse at the latest styles. Shoetube.tv users (affectionately called Shoetubers) can also purchase the shoes they see, read about and obsess over by simply clicking on the vendor links under each video and within each blog. Instant gratification.

NPD Group’s Consumer Tracking Service reports that 2006 women’s fashion footwear sales reached $16.4 billion, with $2.9 billion of that spent online. Online footwear sales for 2007 are projected to surpass $3.5 billion. The fashion footwear market is growing quickly, with more customers then ever demanding the latest styles and seeking the latest fashion trends.

Shoetube.tv is ad-supported providing sponsors with the opportunity to promote their brands through video ad overlays, Shoetube.tv boutique microsites, banners, contests and polling efforts. Shoetube.tv is collaborating with Nine West to promote their 30th anniversary and the launch of their fall 2008 boot line. And, to celebrate the launch, daniblack will offer a $l,000 sweepstakes prize to a Shoetube.tv registrant.

“Advertisers who want to go beyond banners and truly engage young women can utilize our UGC technologies by building a Boutique microsite,” said Marcy McCreary, director of marketing & business development for Shoetube.tv. “This could include an advertiser’s video assets, photo slideshows, blogs, contests, polls, and links back to specific pages on their own Web sites.”

Shoetube.tv’s video content is powered by Twistage, a completely customizable video platform that allows customers to easily integrate Twistage’s technology right into their sites. By partnering with Twistage, Shoetube.tv is able to broadcast their own high- quality videos as well as solicit videos from users keen to participate in the ultimate online shoe experience.

Here is the press release from December in anticipation of the site’s launch on Valentine’s day:

BETTING THAT THERE IS NO end in sight for American women’s obsession with shoes, Powderhouse Productions is getting ready to launch ShoeTube.tv, a web channel devoted to nothing but shoes. (okay, there will be a little bit about boots, too.)
Programming for the site--scheduled to launch on Valentine’s Day--includes eight regular segments, says Marcy McCreary, director of new media, marketing and sales for the Somerville, Mass.-based company. “Pimp my Pump,” for example, allows women to show off their own shoe embellishments; “Walk on By” features woman-on-the-street videos shot in major U.S. cities, and “Real or Deal” invites contestants to decide whether a designer shoe is real or a knock-off.

There’s even some more highbrow programming, such as an interview with the comedian who created the foul-mouthed “Shoes” video on YouTube. And there’s also a segment on “Walk This Way,” a recent exhibit of shoes at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston.

To add a social network element, “we’ve also hired a number of fashion writers to blog about shoes and create forums,” she says, so viewers can comment as well as post their own shoe videos, YouTube-style.

The site, which targets women ages 18 to 44, will be ad-supported, allowing sponsors to buy video ad overlays, ShoeTube Boutique microsites, banners, and contest and polling efforts. So far, Nine West has signed on to promote its 30th anniversary as well as the launch of its fall 2008 boot line, McCreary says, and other shoe marketers and retailers are on deck.

Finally, the site will offer four “mood” zones--sinfully sexy, chic comfort, fit and feisty, and fun and funky--and will sell sponsorships for each zone, she says.

Over the top? Absolutely. But so far, there’s no indication that America’s shoe fixation is slowing down. Total footwear sales in the U.S., reports NPD Group, Inc.’s Consumer Tracking Service, came in at $44.2 billion in the 12 months ending in October. And a recent poll from Consumer Reports National Research Center found that the average American woman has 19 pairs of shoes.