Week 1- Initial research- gathering an understanding of the footwear market as a whole and setting up the foundation of the project.

Week 2- Further research/understanding- Looking at current shoe wear brands with different ethos's/identity's.

FMP- Modifying the market

I am going to create a footwear brand for the younger audience (16-25) that is customizable and has sustainability in mind.

Research

The current footwear market

This graph shows what the footwear market will look like in the future (2020 to 2027). From 2020 to 2070, the market goes from $365.5 billion to $530.3 billion, which is a huge rise in just 7 years. One of the reasons I have picked the footwear industry as my topic for my FMP is how relevant it is and this graphs backs this up.

The future

The future of sneakers/trainers- Experts predictions

"I don't think the [customization] trend will end anytime soon — this do-it-yourself era we are in helps people separate themselves from the next person, so I only see the custom trend getting bigger," says Geiger, the former sneaker customizer turned independent sneaker brand designer and owner.

Metzger shared: "I think personalization will continue to grow as a trend within the masses. Average consumers appreciate the ability to create their own unique colourways and models, especially as sneakers continue to grow in popularity. However, for enthusiasts and collectors, who really drive the hype market, the key product segment should continue to be official exclusives. Brands like Nike and Adidas are smart and know that to control the top of the market they need to keep producing collaborations and one-offs in small quantities."

New technology

One famous example of new technology within sneakers is the Nike Adapt BB with hands-free lacing technology from Nike. Shoes with transparent uppers like the women's-only Air Max DIA allows consumers to customize their look. "You see sneakers like Element Reacts where you can kind of see through them. I also think it's kind of an offshoot of customization and depending on like what socks you wear under them, it's almost like you'd have a different sneaker every time."

Survey results

Overall I believe my survey has been successful, mostly because it has helped me gauge how correct my thinking/ideas are. For example 19/25 are more likely to buy a trainer that has sustainability in mind and 22/25 care about sustainability in trainers. 21/25 like the idea of custom elements within my trainer brand, which makes up my idea of creating custom elements in the design process. My survey has also let me know what type of materials I need to use e.g. durable and comfortable as 25/25 believe durability is important and 25/25 believe comfort is important as well.

Sneaker magazine- Sneaker Freaker

I got the Sneaker Freaker issue 44 for initial research to help influence my project.

I ripped out a few of the pages I liked from the magazine, on these two pages I stuck some images of a Nike air max 90 collector. She owns many different colour-ways and patterns which is what I am going to try and do within one shoe to make the word a more sustainable place.

The page to the left includes an array of Nike shoes as well as ACG models like Mowabbs. I ripped out this page as the collection has a majority of dark base colours which different colour accents which links to my thinking of having a planish shoe than having colourful customizable elements.

Influential designer- Virgil Abloh

These pages are dedicated to Virgil Abloh, who is one of my favourite and influential designers. He has worked his way to the top to now being the artist of Louis Vuitton and chief executive officer of off-white. My favourite work he has done is the off-white x Nike collaborations. The LV X408 sneakers are shown in the top right, these were one of the main focuses of issue 44 of Sneaker Freaker mainly due to the light up heel. This is an example of why get a lot of influence from Virgil as he likes taking risks when designing.

Sustainable footwear- example

Current example of a footwear brand that has sustainability in mind

Allbirds

Ethos

Allbirds are a footwear brand that’s key focus is creating simple sustainable footwear. They promote sustainability by taking into account the carbon footprint. The standard sneaker emits 12.5 kg CO2e. Allbirds average shoe emits 7.6 kg CO2e. Allbirds goal is to have no carbon footprint.

They measure their carbon footprint through a number of topics-

-Materials, manufacturing, transportation, product use and end of life

Materials

This is the largest part of their footprint. they use natural materials like Wool, Tree, and Sugar whenever they can.

Manufacturing

They work with partners who share their values and manufacture efficiently.

Product Use

Allbirds products are machine washable, and cleaning makes an impact on the shoes carbon footprint.

End of Life

Most of their products end up in a landfill, where they emit greenhouse gases into the atmosphere while they decompose.

Transportation

From factory to distribution, and distribution to customer, every leg of the journey counts. And since those journeys vary so much for each customer, they report this number separately.

My thoughts on Allbirds

Allbirds have a great ethos and story, they are starting the adaption of the footwear market by reducing their carbon footprint. However, there are still problems such as how they deal with the shoes once they have been used. "Most of our products end up in a landfill, where they emit greenhouse gases into the atmosphere while they decompose". So although they are being more sustainable then most brands e.g. Allbirds average shoe emits 7.6 kg CO2e compared to the average current shoe emitting 12.5 kg CO2e they haven't found a solution to be sustainable when the shoes are done being used.

In my opinion Allbirds target audience is 30+ e.g. for an older generation due to their simple professional designs. When creating my owe sustainable footwear brand, I want to be drawing in the younger generation e.g. 16-25 as this age group 'controls' the sneaker market. Chana Baram, retail analyst at Mintel, said in a press release: “Men’s footwear, particularly among younger age groups, is really fuelling growth in the footwear sector".

Footwear brand that appeals to the younger generation

Notwoways

Notwoways is an emerging footwear label from the U.K. and is fronted by content creator Callux and his partner and brand designer Rockwell Princely.

The story

The categories- design, manufacturing, marketing, selling and the future

The design

They started by looking at what they wear e.g. what designs they like

Unique selling points

-Price point- they wanted to sell the shoes for a reasonable price but still have good material quality

-Creating a shoe that sits between luxury and the high street

-Innovation-get people talking

-Complexity of design- how complex they could go with the design

Looking at current trends-

Reflective details

Translucent sections

Manufacturing-

Selecting the right factory e.g. produce the best quality shoes

Marketing

Focusing on one social media platform- Instagram

The first video

60 second social post- sums up what the trainer is about

Probe shoot- zooming in on details of the shoe, they didn’t have much of the budget left so they did a simple video

Second video, they had more of a budget, theme of the video- who would wear the trainers

Second shoe is then released- a more developed design, new colour black and water resistant

Third video- idea- how much thought goes into each element of the design

Selling

The first shoe release

Callux didn’t think know how well they would do and went for 750 pairs

On launch day, they sold out in 63 seconds

Second shoe release

Up order quantity to 2100, Sold out in 186 seconds

Total

Future- what’s next

5/6 new designs- continuing the success

NTW so far

Notwoways have changed the game through clever designs, marketing and manufacture making them now a 'known' shoewear brand even though they started in 2019. For my FMP, NTW will be a huge influence throughout every stage of my working.

How NTW are being sustainable

As explained in HYPEBEAST’s feature about emerging sneaker brands, notwoways’ sneakers “are about 70 percent sustainable.” The brand’s co-founder and YouTube content creator Callux, aka Callum McGinley, added, “Imagine we can come out and say, ‘For the last year you’ve been wearing a sustainable shoe, it wasn’t that hard, was it?’ Sustainability comes into play regarding the shoe’s upper that’s made from European nubuck that’s tanned chrome-free, while elements such as the mesh, lining and insoles are made from a recycled or 100 percent organic cotton source, as explained by the shoe’s designer Rockwell Princely Daroen.

My thoughts

Although NTW are stepping in the right direction in terms of being sustainable, they are not all the way there yet. NTW's are being sustainable mainly through the materials they use however manufacturing and sending the shoes off to various people create a huge carbon footprint. One issue within the whole shoe wear market is what happens to shoes after use and within my FMP, I will be trying to solve this.

Within my FMP I will take into account how the current brands promote sustainability whether its through listing the carbon footprint the shoe produces like Allbirds or through recycled materials like NTW's.

Abstract the art of design- Tinker Hatfield footwear design

Tinker Hatfield background

-Tinker came from a pole vault background

-Went to the university of Oregon and met Bill Bowerman who is one of the two founders of Nike with Phil Knight

-He broke his ankle in pole vault but Bill didn’t let him lose his scholarship by creating variants of trainers to aid his recovery.

-Throughout his time at Oregon he worked on designs with Bill as he found his architecture degree meant he was great at drawing.

In 1985, he then started working with Nike properly. One of his first projects was the Nike air max, this shoe that had exposed ‘air bags” was inspired by the Pompidou centre (it has the buildings inner workings displaced on the outside). This airmax design was built on talking a risk.

-He then worked on the back to the future set by designing the self-lacing air mags. In the film the shoes were a prop e.g. they didn’t work. Tinker wanted to make them in real life but had to wait for technology to evolve.

-This self-lacing technology led him to making Earl (Electro adaptive reactive lacing) in 2016.

His work with Michael Jordan

-Tinker was brought in to work with Jordan after the release of the Jordan ones and twos.

-At this stage, Jordan was getting fed up with Nike and was contemplating on leaving.

-Tinker won over Michael Jordan with his Jordan three’s design by listening to what Michael wanted e.g. a mid-cut shoe that was flexible and had some new materials. Tinker delivered on this by creating a mid-cut shoe (this had never been done before with soft leather and segments of new materials such as an elephant print.

-Michael then won the slam dunk contest with the Air Jordan 3 which excelled the selling of the shoes.

-Tinker said, “Phil knight really thinks I saved Nike” due to his work with the Jordan brand

-Tinker then designed 12 more Jordan’s until he got to the 15th pair.

-These were the first ones that started to get quite a few negative reviews, at this point there was a lot going on in his life and he was ready to stop e.g. Bill Bowerman passed away.

-In 2005, he came out of Jordan retirement and designed the Jordan 20 due to Michael persuaded him.

For this shoe, Michael opened up and gave his story over the last 20 years and the shoe was designed on each part of his story.

“Build a project that sustained time” Michael Jordan

“There is a story for each one” Tinker

“A basic design is all ways functional, but a great one will say something” Tinker

“If people don’t love or hate your work, you just haven’t done that much” Tinker

Nike

Nike, the world’s largest supplier of athletic shoes and apparel and a major manufacturer of sports equipment. The established brand is one of, if not the biggest sport brand in the world. It was founded by collage track athlete Phil Knight and later with his renowned coach Bill Bowerman in January 1964. In 2014, the brand alone was valued at $18billion, making it the most valuable brand among sports businesses. As of 2018, the famous brand is valued at $30 billion.

How Nike got to the top

Nike have done many things to get to the top, in my opinion they have got a lot of success from sponsorships and collaborations, for example the collaborations with Off-white (Virgil Abloh), sponsorship of Cristiano Ronaldo and in my opinion the most influential- sponsorship of Micheal Jordan.

Today, the Nike air Jordan’s shoes occupy 58% of the market, are 85% of the basketball shoes over $100, and 77% of kids under 18. What is so astonishing about it occupying 77% of the under 18 market is they wouldn’t have seen Jordan play much, yet still bought the shoes. This occurred by the genius of Nike and the ability of the sportsman Michael Jordan. Nike also have had many other major sponsorships, some would say the likes of Lebron James, yet the air Jordan has sold 8 times more than LB. The air Jordan occupy 10.8% of the total shoe market in the whole of the US in 2016. (Espncom. 2019)

Throughout my FMP I am going to take inspiration from Nike as to get to the top they have led in innovation.

Nike- Sustainability

Nike has made a few positive changes to its environmental practices and is a member of the Sustainable Apparel Coalition, it still has a way to go before it can be called a ‘sustainable’ brand. Nike uses some eco-friendly materials including organic and recycled cotton and polyester, and has some water reduction initiatives in its supply chain.

While the brand has set a science-based target to reduce greenhouse gas emissions generated from its own operations and supply chain, there is no evidence it is on track to meet its target. There is also no evidence Nike has a policy to prevent deforestation in its supply chain. Fashion’s impact on forests comes mainly from the production of textiles as many fabrics are derived from plant pulps or from plants themselves. The drive to protect our forests is urgent, and not just for endangered species such as orangutans. Forests play a big role in the more complex ecosystems of our planet, and the balance of the gases in our atmosphere.

Nike's customizable shoes

Nike have recently launched an array of different Nike airforce that the buyer can customize themselves. My favourite release is the Nike airforce with changeable swooshes, I own a pair myself and it allows me to match the Nike swooshes depending on what clothes I am wearing. This makes this shoe a '6 in 1' shoe as changing the ticks allows for the shoe to have a different look.