Yes, we have several different rapid prototyping set ups, Zcorps and wax printers for visually reviewing things, we also have our own cnc shop so we can cut quick fam molds and then inject actual materials like urethanes.
Typically for testing we have the factory make sets out of actual materials though. Most major companies have the economies of scale to do this, we might do a few more rounds than most though…
The research thing is kind of on going. Our seasons overlap heavily. Throughout the year we try to make time to meet with athletes, both professional and college level, and sometimes elite high schoolers, go to games, practices, training camps, all to make observations and get feedback. We also travel the market and meet with retailers to see what is trending. Throughout the year projects are always starting so this info is always informing you.
There are opportunities to do self directed projects, but typically marketing and your director hammer out a line plan, and you director assigns you specific projects. It is up to you to make it something. The T4g brief was to make a basketball training shoe based on insights we as a team got from out athletes and make it something unique based on function. Everyone assumed it would be a great experiment that would never make it to production. These types of hybrid science project concept shoes frequently don’t make it because retailers won’t take a chance. This one had enough of a functional design story to make it through though…
hmm, it’s hard to answer considering the design was done 18 months ago.
I answered some of this above. But once we decided to do a basketball trainer that had characteristics of bball shoes, trainers, and running shoes, an idea that cam from observing our athletes train in old beat up bball shoes I spent a lot of time examining the Nike Free technology and seeing what would work for our guys and what might not (these guys are big and really destroy their shoes) part of that was sitting down with guys like Tinker and Toby Hatfeild and Eric Avar and soaking in their experience, sitting down with my boss D’Wayne Edwards, countless times and talking through the concept, keeping it to only what was functional, hitting up our marketing team to make sure I delivered something we could get into stores… The design really evolved naturally out of that as I did rounds of sketches, and then technical drawings, initial prototypes, and then rounds and rounds of testing and changes.
Yo, both look great and I love the TG4, I just have one question.
Throughout the year we try to make time to meet with athletes, both professional and college level, and sometimes elite high schoolers, go to games, practices, training camps, all to make observations and get feedback.
Do you think you could specify the opinions/feedback you recieved from the athletes and the observations you make when designing a shoe?
We invest a lot of time and money in getting that information, so I think its best not to go into detail… but a lot of it is pretty common sense stuff, if just helps to hear it from the source and helps back up your design…
Thx Yo, but it isn’t the answer i was expected
What i wanted to know is how have you chosen the patterns of the shoe ? why the straps had an “arrow” pattern ? how have you chosen this ruber part along the heel and why ? why there are straps and not laces ? etc ? (maybe some of these come from “soaking in their experience”)
Maybe i am too exacting, but i like to know how things are made, what are the roots/the base of a project, and i hope that a project don’t only come from guys who draw lines on paper and they chose the coolest/funniest/most sympathetic drawing.
I believe you understand what i mean, and as we are on a board with passionate guys who share their passion and their works, i let me to ask you these questions
Thx
might, haha…a friend was telling me about the nike recruitment video with interviews of the designers at nike they show at his school, he was telling me every designer commented on the many resources they had at their disposal, sounds like a decent place to work…
initially, when you are given a new project are there many (or any) specifics given, i.e. it has to use this material, has to use this tech, etc?
funny, jason Mayden and I made that recruitment video…
Some projects are self initiated (you make them up)
Most have briefs from marketing, hopefully based on insights you gained together. In it they usually spec a targeted price, what technology we would like to use, and what it is for, these things will help determine materials. If it is a light weight flexible running shoe, you are probably going to use meshes…
different groups do it differently. In our group the brief is a good springboard to get started, but sometimes the project evolves away from it.
i met spoke with i guy that interned with you& j and he told me about a recruitment video y’all made, he was saying it was really funny…not sure if it was the same one my friend was refering to.
when self directed, how would you present your idea? rough concept, write a brief? rough sketches? some combination of the aforementioned?
and in those instances when a project evolves in a different direction than the brief how (or does it) affect the other stuff, like marketing, schedules, pricing and stuff…
For projects that are self initiated, I do up renderings and present them to my director (D’Wayne Edwards) and marketing. At that point if we decide to go, I will draw up tech drawings and development will identify a factory to make prototypes (which costs $$$). From here we can decide if we want to bring the project into a season, if we can, because there may not be factory space to produce it or not enough development capabilities. A lot of great projects where done this way like the nike rift…
yo- I am still intrigued as to how you go about producing the last, do you manufacture models in house or is outsourced to a last maker?
does anyone know of any last makers that can handle 3d data of footscans to manufacture bespoke fitting lasts. I know Shoe Master has the system yet there seems to be no one in reality that can use it. Tradition meets technical. I am aware Spring Line claim they can do it, yet having tested the logistic it is not that simple.
our performance last go through years of testing, they are sport specific and rarely change. If they do change it is small evolutions based on data. There are very few last mass producers in the world (I think 3)… we use one of them…
Our casual lasts are often built at the factory. In this world they change lasts fast. It is nothing for a brand like diesel to develop 3-5 lasts per season, it is based on look not fit.
Thanks for the inside stuff , Yo ! I would like to ask what’s the real size of those sketches , I mean is that A4 sheets that is all drawn on ? Is there kind of standart that you guys using ? Also what drawing tool you use for that nice line highlights on the sketches ? Or you just leave an empty spaces on the sheets ? I still can’t find the best choice for me , I would appreciate your advice .
nice! love the consitency in your sketches. good balance between tight and loose with feeling. not too belaboured or overworked. hot.
love the shoe too. for sure ill be buying a pair if i ever see it (we dont get basketball shoes here in denmark much), and chopping it to bits to see and the goods on the inside!
hard to tell from the pics you posted…is the heel counter is a glass or polyesther fibre material under clear TPU? like this-
@r pretty much exactly like that but with a debossed jumpman…
i couldn’t afford the carbon fiber composite at $95…
Thanks for the props, dug those sketches out of the files… European distribution on that shoe will be pretty decent, though most will go to Germany, France, and England I think
@ zdelar I use a variety of medium, sometimes because I am bored, and sometimes cause I’m lazy. The orange/grey/white sketches were done in my sketch book with a ball-point pen. I sketch most of my initial ideas like that, on the road, at home, at the park, court, library (not usually at my desk). I photocopied them to 8"x14" size and threw some markers on real quick to show my idea. The others where sketched on graphics 360 marker paper with a prisma color pencil, photocopied onto bond, colored up with markers, a white pastel, and a white pencil for highlights at letter size (about a4), the computer (red/wht) one is illustrator linework and photoshop rendering…
2006 Jordan T4G: first ever baskball trainer designed in response to our athletes needs. The product combines the light weight flaxability of a running shoe, the stability of a training product, and the support of a baskeball shoe into a perfomance hybrid.
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