hi there!
I got to make a basketball shoe this term and I would love to tell you all about it.
After the summer I had, I was absolutely stoked to take Tom Bonamici and Josie Johnson's Senior Footwear Studio up in Portland. I had to commute so I drove 4k miles over 10 weeks but it was very much worth it.
We started the first day of class strong. Josie does not mess around. She pulled out a 30 slides presentation going through the entire triad and production process of a sneaker. All I have to say is... thank god for this summer. Had that been my first introduction to shoe production I would've definitely lost my mind. For context, Josie totally ran this class with a tight rein grip of industry knowledge while Tom made himself available as a sounding board for technical details/deliverables. This was a great duo of teachers and as I've mentioned before, Bonamici knows how to deliver a well-structured class.
It was clear that intentional design was important to Josie. She wanted us to really consider why we were adding or removing things from our designs. She started us off with picking our brands and conducting brand research.
Adidas basketball was the route I knew I had to take. I am in awe of their sculptural sneakers that truly feel like pieces of art (the AE1 sneaker of the year announcement was perfect coincidental timing).
After looking at the breadth of adibasketball product mix, I identified creating something under 13 oz., abstract, and the story of "flow state".
I have always appreciated the concept of flow state. A state of mind that any individual with genuine connection to the thing they love can experience when so immersed in their craft.
Basketball has that equal spread where people of all skill levels, abilities, and love for movement can participate at different levels. Whether it's picking up a ball and playing with the neighborhood kids at the concrete court next to your house or going all the way to league.
I began sketching on sticky notes whenever I had an idea of what this shoe could look like. I started with this idea that I wanted my drawings to be "shoes that did not look like shoes".
"Whatever that means" Bonamici said.
I kept it loose and gestural. Mostly to explore where I wanted to go with this piece. I wanted it to feel like art rather than technical drawings.
I began loving this particular concept of a cage structure that comes from tooling to topline. It felt like an ode to the recovery footwear that adidas is loved for. Think Yeezy slide/foam runner.
I continued to sketch all over my notebooks in class and it became something I'd go to bed thinking about. I had this idea of a toe down view of these strong stripes running from ankle to toe and a sculptural component wrapping the shoe.
Tom and Josie agreed this concept was my strongest but made sure to encourage me to explore other ideas in order to not pigeon hole myself too early in the term.
This is truly my favorite part of footwear design. Most of these drawings are insane concepts that make no sense in real life practical terms but the feeling of seeing something in your head and drawing it no matter how crazy it is is so much fun.
That bottom right is the concept I chose to run with.
From here it was time to tackle the Illustrator orthographic monster to start to conceptualize what this piece would look like in the 3D space.
I began finalizing line art and thinking about texture, and material. I was given the oppurtunity to present my early stage concept to the US Sports Footwear team at adidas and got some great feedback on silhouette and possible next iterations.
From there, I created my line art renders and the rest of my techpack.
However, in the back of mind I knew that the hard part was coming.
I know illustrator, I know how to draw, I DO NOT know how to make a shoe from scratch.
I began to explore material options in Eugene after creating my techpack and let me say, in terms of footwear, Eugene is BARREN.
Introducing Mike who works at a cobbler/shoe repair store called The Shoe Doctor in Eugene. Mike has been working on shoes since he was 15 and knows everything about anything footwear.
I ended up at Mike's shoe repair on a rainy Wednesday afternoon when I realized I needed a sneaker last to tape up in order to begin drafting my pattern pieces for my upper construction. Mike gladly handed over what I understood to be a 30-year-old last and said you can use it for free. For context, buying a last is like hundred+ dollars so this was a hallelujah for me. He told me to come back in and update him on things and if I had any questions I was always welcome to ask.
I took that invite literally. After that week I went in every week to ask questions, show my progress, and learn how to put this shoe together. Mike would always take the time to show me how to use things and give me advice.
I learned how to strobel which is when you take the flat upper construction and sow it to the strobel board to attach to the outsole. I created a full-knit bootie and attached it to my outsoles. Experimented with different half-collar constructions. Attached my eyelets. Attached my collar construction to the upper. Etc.
I was given the space to fail, learn, and create a final sample that I was pretty proud of.
During this prototyping time, I was also given the opportunity to introduce one of the lovely members of the US Sports team I worked with this summer, Matty Merrill, to Warsaw Sports Business Club. Matty is a fresh breath of air and looked over my project (even though he is an apparel warrior) with such enthusiasm. It was so wonderful to see him again and I came back to Adidas the next week to mess around the makerlab again and finish off the details of my prototype.
After my final prototype was completed, I decided to complete all of my renders by hand. I know the rest of my cohort went the Rhino and Illustrator route but to be honest... rendering by hand is where I find MY flow state. I sat for hours and hours and the final renders felt lively and reflected the story of the shoe better than any computer model would.
I prepared my final poster to show the 10 week process. Photographed my final prototype. Created my process book. And was ready to present Thursday of Week 10.
Presentation day was amazing and I got to meet with some lovely industry professionals which included presenting to a designer who worked at Adibasketball for much of his career.
In total, I am just SO grateful I get to do what I get to do. Every footwear project I've gotten furthers my love for informed footwear design. I am also so grateful for the mentors around me who let me create product that IS different. It is easy to self-doubt when what you create is unlike what you see around you. But I have great people around me who push me to continue to explore my personal design language.
I made the decision to begin my Product Design capstone a term early in order to work for 6 months on a larger footwear project next term. And I officially finished my Sports Business minor and presented my Thesis Prospectus this term!
As of right now the ducks are #1 in the nation, B1G 10 champions, and onto the Rose Bowl. What a time to be a Senior at the University of Oregon :)))
Excited to come back for my last winter term at UO, finish my thesis, begin my capstone, and cherish my time with my college friends.
As always, thank you for reading.
Happy holidays and stay warm this winter! XOXO
-Saachi Poddar