Any thoughts on getting into the shoe design industry?

[lapu lapu]

What's a good educational path to take to becoming a shoe designer? (specifically sports shoes ala Nike and the high end casual stuff by Puma) Would it be helpful/necessary to study fashion? Textiles?

I'd appreciate any helpful input from the board. Thanks!

 

[v0rtex]

Originally Posted by lapu lapu

What's a good educational path to take to becoming a shoe designer? (specifically sports shoes ala Nike and the high end casual stuff by Puma) Would it be helpful/necessary to study fashion? Textiles?

I'd appreciate any helpful input from the board. Thanks!

Sports shoes are incredibly technical in their design. I'd imagine some kind of sports science discipline or even biology/physics could be a route in.

Try contacting the PR departments of a few of the companies, they usually bend over backwards to provide useful information.

 

[shellshock]

http://www.artcenter.edu/accd/progra...roductdesg.jsp

 

[minya]

a) become famous for being a cool artist and get to know somebody at Nike or <brand here>

b) get a job at <brand here>, meet the right people, show you have the right skills, and be promoted to product designer/R&D.

 

[kever]

Look into the Industrial Design field. That's how most get thier start I believe.

 

[phaedrus]

Originally Posted by lapu lapu

What's a good educational path to take to becoming a shoe designer? (specifically sports shoes ala Nike and the high end casual stuff by Puma) Would it be helpful/necessary to study fashion? Textiles? I'd appreciate any helpful input from the board. Thanks!
Do you mean sports shoes to actually play sports? if so then the previous suggestion to do some sort of science based course would be good entry to this, maybe even human movement/physiotherapy to get a better technical understanding. A design course if you are into making "fashion" sneakers not intended for sport, here in Aus there are actual footwear and textile course you can do that will teach you teh technique of the manufacture of shoes.

 

[Get Smart]

if you do get into shoe design, don't let happen to you what happened to Orlando Bloom's character in the movie "Elizabethtown"