John Fluevog is a Vancouver legend and his shop on Water Street, a Gastown icon, is rivalled only by a certain steam clock that shall remain nameless, especially since its whole “steam” thing is doing all the heavy lifting.
Fluevog has built a career on shoes that turn heads. His latest collection continues the pattern, but this time the inspiration sits with a different body part: the kidney.
For the first time, the Vancouver designer is speaking publicly about his experience with kidney disease and a 2025 transplant, alongside the launch of two limited-edition shoes, The Patty and The Alan, named for his donor, Patty Carmichael, and her husband. Part of the proceeds will support The Kidney Foundation of Canada’s B.C. and Yukon branch.
“If I could encourage just one person to donate a kidney, it would all be worth it,” says Fluevog.
Fluevog knew kidney disease ran in his family, but he did not fully realize what was happening as his health declined. By the time he understood the seriousness of it, his kidney function had dropped significantly. A transplant followed and, with it, the kind of gratitude that tends to make a person re-evaluate their priorities and focus on what really matters.
“Every day I get out of bed, I’m so thankful for Patty,” says Fluevog. “I can still draw. I can still think. I can still live life.”
In classic Fluevog fashion, the tribute is deeply sincere while still embracing playfulness. One of the shoes features a toe shaped a little like a kidney, on purpose. He says the design needed to be wearable and enduring, but also noticeable enough to start a conversation.
“I wanted them to be noticed,” says Fluevog. “It’s hard to be a wallflower and wear my shoes.”
Which, here, is the point. These are statement shoes with an actual statement: ask about them and you have opened the door to a conversation about living organ donation. “When they are noticed, it’s a great opportunity for the wearer to say, ‘As a matter of fact, these are part of a kidney awareness program,’” says Fluevog. Not bad for a pair of shoes.
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The idea itself came from an unexpected place. “It wasn’t actually my idea,” says Fluevog. “After I came out of the operation, I had a nurse named Wanda Rojas… and she sketched out a drawing of a shoe.” He and his team ran with it, turning a brutal health chapter into something tangible, useful and unexpectedly moving.
Fluevog is also quick to credit the healthcare system and the people who carried him through the experience. “I’m so happy to live in a country like Canada,” says Fluevog. “Maybe people complain about our healthcare system. I have nothing but great things to say.”
That gratitude has widened into advocacy. “I realized that I was in a position, thankfully, that I could bring awareness,” says Fluevog. The launch coincides with Organ and Tissue Donation Awareness Month and points to a need that remains urgent. According to the Kidney Foundation, more than 50,000 Canadians are living with kidney failure, on dialysis or with a kidney transplant, and more than 70 per cent of Canadians waiting for a solid organ transplant are waiting for a kidney.
“I’d like to reduce the wait lines,” says Fluevog. “I’m very thankful that I have another day.”
Fluevog’s company has also changed its internal policies to support employees who want to become living donors, including covering wage loss during recovery. It is a practical extension of the same message behind the shoes: one person’s decision can change another person’s life.
“If I could encourage just one person to donate a kidney, it would all be worth it,” says Fluevog.
For a designer whose work has long traded in fantasy, flair and the occasional deliciously odd silhouette, this may be his most affecting creation yet: a shoe with a pulse.
“True love is a kidney freely given and freely received,” says Fluevog.
A statement printed on the inside of both The Patty and The Alan—one that lands with particular force for anyone who has ever been saved by another person’s generosity.
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