Changing the market

How can I adapt the trainer market by making my own trainer/streetwear brand that is both sustainble and popular?

Creating my own streetwear brand, I want to create a streetwear brand that draws in the younger generation however also has sustainability in mind.

My concept is to create a shoe wear brand from scratch, starting off with a name to then having multiple variants. Within this project, I will be attempting to change the shoe wear market by creating a sustainable, customizable shoe for the younger audience that shares the same ‘hype’ as the current market. At the moment, there is a divide within the shoe wear market in terms of sustainability and ‘hype’, the ‘big dogs’ such as Nike and Adidas are leading the market through collaborations with big artists/designers and athletes.

“Nike is a marketing-oriented company, and the product is our most important marketing tool.”— Phil Knight

These big brands however don’t really have sustainability in mind and the sustainable smaller shoe wear brands do but hardly anyone is buying them as they have boring designs and poor marketing.

A shoe wear brand that has sustainability in mind

Allbirds is a as shoe wear brand that has sustainability in mind but most people would have never heard of them. Their designs are very simple and therefore could be deemed as boring so their products do not appeal to a younger audience.

Mintel revealed overall, one in 10 (10 percent) footwear purchasers look for shoes made from eco-friendly materials when shoe shopping

There is a market for sustainable footwear however the age range that spend the most on footwear are not getting enticed into it.

A current footwear brand that is doing extremely well is Notwoways, their first release sold out in 63 seconds. They appeal to the younger audience (16-30) through their complex and innovative design.

With the production of footwear projected to continue rising, something must be done to increase sustainability in this market whilst still attracting customers. By the end of this project I will hope to have combined the two worlds of sustainable footwear with popular younger generation footwear.