This is a product I did that will be on the shelves in a few months. It has been featured in a few European and Japanese magazines allready, I think it will do well. The photo shoots for ir are pretty hot.
It is designed to be essentially the ultimate summer shoe for youny metro women. The upper pattern is very minimal with either a perfed or laser cut shell. The strapps are a stretch molded urethane. The tooling is a soft compound made of EVA foam and Rubber that is stitched on to the upper with a rubber coated leather. It is extreme;y comfortable for long periods, light and flexible.
mCow- this is actually a good example of one of our previous discussions. In the top pick you can see how I designed the lining of the shoe. This is what is called a skeleton lining, it saves material, but also makes the shoe lighter and more breathable. It also opens up a whole new can of worms design wise because each edge has to be refined as not to irritate the foor and so that the product looks finished, especially at this price. Also you can see how I specified that the leather in the heel be flipped around, popping the suede surface. This helpd to lock the heel in place, it also feels nice on a bare foot. The sock liner is molded EVA, contoured to the foot with a grid of raised waffles pushing the foot off the surface for airflow, I also speced its top sheet in synthetic pigsking, it feels nice but doesn’t get as stinky and is color fast. I also designed the graphic on the sock liner, and the bag you see the maniquin holding that comes with each pair.
oh, the one with the floral design is beautiful! There are a lot of all sorts of pretty variations on ballet/maryjane shoes in stores right now, and all of them dig in the sticking out sections of my tibiae and fibulae…But these do look amazingly comfy… too bad they’re a bit too rich for me.
Can you suggest some good in your opinion books, sites…that would have information on shoe manufacturing and most importantly on the materials…that are used/might be used in the future for the shoe stuff…?
oh, and one more question, is it any more expensive to have slightly different uppers, kind of like camper twins shoes ( might not be a good example, because they seem to just apply different decorations, but I can’t remember right now of other mirror asymmetrical shoes) …because patterns for left and right for more of “complex” shoes aren’t the same anyway? Is it just slightly more hassle to make? Or would it be way too expensive?
The aethsetics of your design are very strong and appealing. I can really see this shoe fitting in with the project brief you included. I wanted to pose an antithesis to the design however.
Can you comment on the actuall suport of this shoe? In the past, Nike shoes were not known for their great support under movement; i.e. they did not bend at the proper spot for the human foot (proper is at the front part of foot, apposed to the middle of the whole shoe, by the arch.). I admit, this is somewhat of a biased comment, but any good running store will support my statement…and I dont mean to single out Nike, a lot of brands shoe lines have fallen short.
I am also basing my comments directly from these pictures, so some of it may be invalid.
The shoe looks to be made from a fairly light and thin material, especially at the middle of the foot. The shoe looks like it bends directly at the middle.
Proper bending would be just behind the second (from the right) nubbin and part of the larger front pad I think. This shoe is marked for “the ultimate summer shoe for youny metro women”. And judging from the aethsetics, this looks like a ‘pretty’ (maybe a hint of dress) shoe that you can run around in and walk and shop in all day. Due to the lack of support, do you think this is going to hurt people in the long run? People will want to wear this shoe all day because thats what the image/marketing says, and it looks pretty enough to wear in any occasion.
This is certainly not an attack on you, just a discussion I thought was relavent. I know Nike does a lot of testing for their shoes, but that doesnt mean the most supportive shoe makes the final cut over aesthetics etc. I am curious to hear your thoughts and how much say you have for these issues in the design process.
Nicholas Hausman
Savannah College of Art and Design
So the shoe is half board lasted and half strobble. The board runs from the heel to the rear most traction numb on the toe pod creating an arch bridge. The rest of the shoe uses a thin mesh stroble allowing it to flex in the toe area. I think it is really up to designers to seek out the issues you point to and adress them. I was very concerned that this product actually function and not be just a fashion shoe.
I’ll try to get more in later, but awesome points, thank you for responding.
Great combination of product, material, and graphic design Yo. I’ve always heard that Nike really lets its designers run rampant when it comes to design freedom. Having a mostly injection molded plastic background myself, I’m kind of itching for the chance to do something with other materials and processes again. The last time I didn’t have to think about draft angle was in school…
There seems to be a lot of fashion-forward products on the market, and available to the general population as of late.
I’d like to see some of the development if you’ve got the pics and the time…
Unfortunately I don’t know of any good footwear books. Might be an opportunity there…hmmm
Making the shoes asym left to right is no big deal. It might increse the cost a bit but nothing to be too worried about so have fun. My only concern would be to do in a way that is appealing, beautiful, and logical so that the consumer can relate to what you are trying to do.
Anyways, the shoe is a very interesting–it looks delicate and rugged at the same time, how long from concept to final? and do you/other designers there usually do physical models of shoes before production?
Hey, no outing real names in the forum (granted it is just easy enough just to click on his web link to find out, but some folks haven’t figured that out yet).
if not for the fact that YO makes his identity so well known, i’d agree it should be removed. and do it for junglebrodda. in this case, i’ll leave that up to him to do as he sees fit.
These shoes look incredible. I don’t know how much they will be in the US…but I don’t care, it’s the everyday stuff that is well designed that makes ya’ smile and stay inspired. One pair SOLD, maybe two depending on this next project.
