Not specific to footwear, but I’ll keep this thread going as it relates to the other article about innovation above…
If I could count the number of times I get clients who ask for “innovation” only to walk it back once the concepts are in front of them. It’s the risk I think that always becomes the issue. You can’t rely on past sales or reference a competitor if you are doing something really new. You can’t know for sure if it will work or deliver or sell.
Innovation isn’t dead. Risk is.
Latest.
One thing I didn’t mention in the post is how the “unknown unknowns” are probably the biggest problem for startups. Unless there’s a lot of domain expertise founders often don’t know what they don’t know.
Not to only pick on this one Nike shoe (but there’s clearly issues), but this problem with “innovation” is something I run into often…
Applies of course to not just footwear design, but through my lens.
Not sure if SAYSH has got their own thread, or has been discussed elsewhere so I’ll just ask this here:
Was just listening to the podcast “How I made this” with Wes and Alysson Felix of Saysh, where they mention that all big brand women shoes are made of men’s lasts. And that despite factories having women’s last noone uses them, because “that would be making 2 shoes”.
I’m quite skeptical to that, and the “2 shoes” doesn’t even make sense considering all sizes, colorways and models are made any way. Can anyone shine light on this, are they talking out of their a** to push their story?
That is basically nonsense. Lululemon also made similar claims that they were the first to make women’s specific lasts and that nobody does it.
The truth is that men’s and women’s specific lasts are common.
It’s true that not every brand/model uses them, but it’s certainly nothing new. There have been entire brands like Ryka and Avia dedicated to women’s specific athletic shoes. I have seen ads from brands like New Balance and Nike from the 80s talking about women’s specific lasts.
Women’s feet can be different (smaller heel cuboid, wider in the forefoot, different shape instep, etc.). But there are also a huge range within each gender and while I’m not an expert on it, I’ve spoken to a Ph. D. in biomechanics that told me there are more differences within a gender than between them. I haven’t seen the data to know.
What is true is that there’s several different ways to make a women’s last and there are costs and benefits.
If you change the bottom template of the lat (the bottom shape), you generally need to make new tooling which costs a lot.
You can also keep the bottom template and effectively change the upper (heel, instep, etc.) and keep the same tooling but use different lasts and patterns for the upper. Cutting dies are pretty cheap.
There’s also a way to do it to start with the women’s last and then grade to men vs. the other way around which is more typical. This can have better fit for women sometimes.
As you mention, there’s other factors as well to keep in mind in terms of selling by genders. Colorways, size range, size marking, size conversion, etc.
Hope this helps. It’s a topic that is getting a lot of press lately (Lululemon, Puma had a women’s running shoe last year, etc.) but mostly I think misconstrued and marketing spin vs. reality.
Thanks for explaining, I suspected there was significant spin to it to fit the bigger brand story.
I’ve got a similar story with kid’s helmets. I’ve seen at least 3 companies in the past 10 years alone claim they were the first to actually measure kids’ heads vs scaling an adult helmet.
It’s what’s on the inside that counts…
This is part 1. So much to say about insoles.
Probably one of the most underrated and undersigned components.
Follow up
Thought about this a lot on today’s 19k run through the remnants of hurricane Beryl.
I’m tired of all the fantastical shoe designs that wouldn’t work in real life. Looking forward to seeing your take on practical footwear design.
Thanks for the zero awareness take. AI bot?
As a runner and running shoe designer I’m constantly in awe how the performance demands of running are elevated and matched by innovations in running shoe design, materials and construction. How high the bar keeps on being lifted.
Basketball shoes may get more hype (though even that’s debatable). But everyone wears running shoes.
Sure, it’s just running shoes.
But I love designing running shoes.
They are the best.
That is all.
As a designer of both running and basketball shoes, I can relate how the bar is set higher all the time especially at lower costs.
When I first started in footwear design, 23 years ago we did price point running shoes that were $5.00 FOB!