How To Design Shoes: Make Your Own Brand
As a fashionista, you might have been dreaming to make your own designs and leave a mark in the future. We know how hard it is to establish a name in this creative industry, but hey, it is not impossible. All fashion icons started as a beginner. If you want to start now by learning how to design shoes, we have these tips for you.
Find an Inspiration
Just like in any creative process, learning how to design shoes starts with an inspiration. It might come to individuals differently. You can be the type of designer who often encounters a eureka moment, or one that seeks inspiration through journeys.
Mood board
It is typical for designers to create a mood board to gather their inspiration and create a vision. It can let you complete an idea. Mood boards will serve as a visualization of your thoughts and guide you how your thought process is influenced by the things you are inspired about.
Experience
The way people think and make a creative output is highly influenced by each unique experience. Draw inspirations from your childhood or your culture. Your design can be a reflection of your hometown’s way of life. Incorporate these in learning how to design shoes.
If on a deadlock, you can create new experiences of your own. Travel to places or try something new. Satisfy your eyes with new encounters and let your thoughts fly.
Research
Go to libraries, search the internet, trace fashion’s history. Research about the past and current’s shoemaker design. Listen to the journey of well-known designers. Browse magazines and stay updated to where the industry is headed to. Stay curious. What is promising? What is lacking? You might get your inspiration from here.
Stay Realistic
Ideas will not stay as thoughts forever. They must be directed towards a goal: to learn how to design shoes and make an actual one. You may freely sketch the design at first, but soon, you have to make a version that is realistic enough to be actualized.
Shoe Construction Process
In order to stay grounded with your design ideas, you must be knowledgeable of the shoe-making process, too. You must know both what can be and cannot be done during the actual construction.
One tip that the famous shoe-maker Caroline Groves shared is to buy vintage shoes that you can deconstruct. This way, you can widen your knowledge of the different techniques used and proven to work before, while collaborating with your own creative thoughts to create a new feasible design.
Set a deadline
Even if you are just doing it for yourself, setting a definite deadline can help with the design process. There are times that you may have an overload of ideas that you keep on revising a design repeatedly. A deadline will exert the needed pressure to finalize it.
Listen to consumers
For example, if you want to learn how to design sneakers, you might want to research on the preferences of its buyers. You cannot simply force a design to your potential customers. You should respect their preferences as well. There must be a balance between your creative license and their current inclinations.
Stay open
A design is not yet in its final form until it has been made into actual shoes. Stay involved in the making process and be open to adjustments.
Engage with the shoemaking process
Making the design into reality yourself is not only satisfying but will also let you critic your own creative work. While you are at it, constantly think of what must be adjusted and be willing to add or remove a part of your design.
If others are making the actual shoes, have the time to observe the process. Talk to the shoemakers and learn from their experiences as well.
Know innovations
Innovations has constantly been changing the way we do things. In the fashion world, new materials have continuously emerged. New techniques in shoe making are also possible through the use of machines. As an aspiring designer, you can incorporate them into your journey in learning how to design shoes.
In sketching, the world went from paper and pencils to digital drawings. Try to maximize this technology. Certain limitations with using paper have been overcame by computer-aided drawings.
Conclusion
Different designers have different ways in doing their work. The things we mentioned above are guides for you to help you start learning how to design shoes. Know your personal ways, stay realistic, and keep your focus. You’ll never know, with the right determination, you might be the next big name in the fashion industry.