May 2012
1 post
3 tags
Ch-ch-changes!
We’re gearing up for some big changes at Last Place Footwear. First and foremost will be an eventual transition away from Tumblr for our primary site. I struggled with this decision because I really appreciate the community aspect of Tumblr, but our site content has never been a perfect fit for the format. Irregardless, this will free up our Tumblr space to be a little more informal and...
April 2012
2 posts
9 tags
Dirtbag
It recently occurred to me that I’ve been somewhat neglectful to my downhill biker brethren. Most of the miles I log are in the city, so I must apologize for my inherent bias towards urban cycling. This weeks design is an attempt to remedy that with a beefy, straightforward downhill riding sneaker for those out there who would rather dodge trees than MBTA buses.
I started this design with...
Bulletproof Skate Mid
With this latest design, I felt like I wanted to create something with a bit more flavor. I started doodling some mid-cut skate shoes that played with stitching the main heel piece to the midsole before attaching it to the upper. After seeing it colored up in black, it struck me that it looked kind of like armor.
That sparked the idea to design the business end of the sneaker to be made from an...
March 2012
3 posts
Website Tinkering
Things might get weird.
10 tags
Esplanade
Spring has finally arrived… Well OK, it’s probably global warming. But, while I was out enjoying the early stages of our planet’s demise, I noticed a marked rise in the number of Dutch style cruisers out and about on the city streets. While a cruiser isn’t my first choice for bombing around the Charles River, I appreciate seeing others enjoying the casual pace of a Dutch...
8 tags
Business Time
After spending some time in the performance bike and skate space, I felt the need to conjure up something a little more casual. It’s nice to have one pair of kicks that can be worn in an office or out to upscale bars on a Friday without getting stopped at the door.
The design is a very basic blucher/chukka construction with minimal pattern piecing. The black and brown colorways are...
February 2012
1 post
6 tags
Minute Man Low
Well, that was a nice hiatus. This will be the first of many regularly updated designs in addition to some new supplemental content for your free viewing pleasure.
This most recent design is a named after the bad-ass 12 mile bike path that runs from Cambirdge out to the stix. I started this design a while ago and couldn’t figure out how to finish it. I wanted something that was technical...
July 2011
2 posts
11 tags
Stance: Jordan 4s
After I wrapped up my first Stance vinyl toy, I wanted more. This time I wanted to put some real time into one and break away from the 2D surface with some Super Sculpey polymer clay. I decided to try my hand at recreating the Nike Jordan 4. I chose this sneaker because it was A) one of the best looking Jordan models ever made, and B) proportionally close to the last shape of the Stance kicks.
I...
11 tags
Stance: Make Your Own Kicks
A gift from the sneaker gods. Designers Delroy Dennisur & Spencer Wyatt have marshaled the unstoppable armies of the internet to fund their piece of footwear genius; a sneaker vinyl toy that allows you to make your own kick(s). Complete with shoebox and wrapped in tissue, this simple sneaker primitive has great proportions and shape with a sleek toe and clean sole.
They were kind enough to...
May 2011
1 post
4 tags
Spring Update
After a couple months of travel, deadlines and some good old fashioned relaxing, it’s time to get back to posting some fresh new sneaker concepts for the urban manchild. Lately I’ve been spending a lot of my free time moped tinkerin’ and building a portable hammock stand for Burning Man (“GET A JOB, HIPPIE!”), but I’ve definitely been slacking on the footwear...
April 2011
1 post
11 tags
Home Away from Home
Sometimes an idea is born from a moment of complete boredom. While sitting through a particularly painful meeting one day, I took a break from writing snarky notes to my coworker and banged out a quick sketch for a wall that I could build around my desk at work. I liked the concept right away, as it was kind of a play on how much of my life I spend at work. From an execution standpoint, it was a...
March 2011
2 posts
6 tags
March Sketches
Some randomness from my sketchbook. Lately I’ve been doodling these quick little stick figures in dramatic poses. Kinda makes me want to attend a figure drawing class.
11 tags
Latebirds Moped Sneakers
Although I spend most of my time on my bike, the other day I found myself tinkering with my moped while waiting in vain for spring to show up. It got me thinking about a sneaker built for some serious moped riding. I spoke with a friend of mine who rides with the Latebirds, a rad gang of moped tinkerers in Los Angeles, about rendering up a shoe concept for the group. They log some serious miles...
February 2011
2 posts
10 tags
Worst Bike Ever
I hesitate to post a lot of subjective content on this blog, as the focus of this website is new urban footwear concepts, but I was so repulsed by this bike design that I thought it was worth sharing.
This collaboration bike, brought to you by Pharrell Williams and Domeau & Peres, is a steel frame fixed gear bike with all of the primary features wrapped in buffalo leather. This useless bike...
13 tags
Hyde Park Mid
For my latest design I wanted to balance the simplicity of my previous post with something a little more dynamic. After throwing down some sketches in my Moleskine, I hit upon a thumbnail that had potential. The end result was solid mid-cut skate sneaker that I’m pretty happy with.
The primary visual element is a color popped eyestay overlay attached to the front quarter panel with a...
January 2011
2 posts
9 tags
Yellow Light
For the first post of the new year I decided to go back to basics. Using elements from a previous thumbnail sketch, I whipped up a clean, low-cut versatile bike sneaker for bombing around the city. I started with a simple blucher construction with a low cut sidewall. I then incorporated a classic court style toe on the cupsole to fit snug with slide in pedal clips.
The upper features a continued...
11 tags
State of the Union
The blog is going back into an active state after a busy stretch of living this existence to the max. November brought on a crippling extracurricular footwear design project that coincided perfectly with an enormous deadline. Once I collected the remaining pieces of my soul, I began work on a refined Illustrator version of one of my most recent sketches for a new urban clipless bike shoe.
I had...
November 2010
1 post
8 tags
November Sketches
After taking some vacation time in the Pacific Northwest and coming back to a tornado of insane deadlines, we’re back with some sneaker ideation. Here are a few sketches from my moleskine that I worked on while in transit. There was one thumbnail that I thought could work for an update to my previous clipless bike design so I did a quick marker sketch in a larger scale.
October 2010
7 posts
10 tags
Mass Ave Mid
I was so pleased with my previous marker sketch that I couldn’t wait to get it into Illustrator. While I had to finesse a few lines and I changed the logo to a tonal deboss, there wasn’t really a whole lot else I felt compelled to change.
I slimmed out the outsole slightly and increased the radius of the soleplate edge to provide smoother action when worn with bike clips. One of my...
7 tags
Bike Mid - Sketch
Decided to bust out my markers the other night while watching TV and came up with a mid cut bike/skate sneaker that I’m pretty happy with. The pattern lines are reminiscent of previous mid cut designs while having its own personality. I’ll definitely render this guy up in Illustrator so I can finesse some elements and add just a little more flavor.
7 tags
Sketches
Some random nonsense from yesterday. My brother was busy lighting dudes up in Call of Duty so I had some time to kill.
9 tags
Oxygen Skate Low
After cleaning out a bunch of old, heavy busted skate shoes from my closet I started to think about ways you could save weight and increase airflow while still preserving durability. After a few trial thumbnails, I landed on a super clean low skate silhouette that I thought was worth exploring.
The main functional element of the upper is the closed seam that separates the durable synthetic...
9 tags
Skate Concept Sketch
Got the sudden urge to bust out my markers and pencils after consuming my weight in pizza. I had a quick thumbnail sketch in my sketchbook that I thought was worth elaborating on. The basic design is a blucher construction skate concept with the eyestay wrapping into a mudguard. I like the overall direction and it may be worth expanding in to a more detailed concept. I’m not entirely...
9 tags
Sketches
A few doodles in yee olde moleskine. I hesitated to post these, but whatever. Enjoy!
Site Maintenance
We’re doing some front end tinkering for the next 48 hours so please pardon us if the site looks like a freshman coding project for the rest of the weekend.
September 2010
2 posts
7 tags
Shit Kicker Boot
With the arrival of autumn comes the ability to mix up the day-to-day wardrobe beyond tees and jeans. It’s a relief to be able to throw in a shirt, jacket or hoodie (especially the hoodie). The change must have had bled into the creative part of my brain because I got the urge to sketch outside of the sneaker box.
After some initial exploration, I had a few thumbnails of a men’s...
...Aaaaand We're Back.
After a brief end of summer hiatus that included Burning Man, house guests, work insanity, beer and other pitiful excuses, we’re back to our regularly scheduled shoe nerdery. In addition to a new footwear design to be posted tomorrow, we’re going to try to upgrade the general aesthetic of the site itself. Upgrayyyed!
August 2010
2 posts
6 tags
Paperboy
Labor day is fast approaching and that means one thing… Back to school season is officially here. With that in mind, I wanted to design a clean, functional bike sneaker that would accommodate some preppy textiles. After sketching for a while with little success, I finally worked up a concept that would provide a bold integrated graphic while maintaining a clean to for optimal...
9 tags
Gym Rat
I try to do my best to avoid the gym at all costs. It’s straight torture. But when I found myself stuck overseas without access to my bike or my favorite rock climbing gym, I had to bite the bullet and hit the hotel fitness center. As a result, I ended up sketching some versatile athletic styles that would serve as a well rounded gym sneaker.
I wanted something that would be a little more...
July 2010
2 posts
8 tags
50/50 Skate Mid
Lately I’ve been thinking about different ways to apply the ‘last’ logo on some of my conceptual designs. I wanted to play around with some large scale branding executions and expand my design aesthetic. Ironically, it was while sketching some directional fashion sneakers that I came across a thumbnail for a mid-cut skate style that would be optimal for a big logo treatment.
...
8 tags
Street Futbol Low
While I have very limited interest in team sports, it’s very difficult to ignore the significance of the World Cup. While doodling in my notebook, I started to consider some of the classic indoor/court soccer sneakers. Some of my favorite and most covetable lifestyle sneakers are traditionally seen as soccer inspired footwear.
I wanted to design something that would look good with any pair...
June 2010
2 posts
7 tags
Women's Bike Flat
This design was inspired by my friend Jacklyn. I wanted to design something that was feminine with a touch of grit. What I ended up with was a simple, functional women’s flat that could be used for kicking around the city while also standing up to serious biking. The basic ballet flat is fine for platform pedals, but is virtually useless for a serious rider with clips.
The biggest...
5 tags
Speed Skate Low
Now that Summer is in full effect, I’ve been logging quite a few hours on my longboard. It must be influencing my creative thought process because most of my recent thumbnail sketches have been skate inspired. After one false start which ate up some time messing around in Illustrator, I landed upon a design that I was proud enough to post.
I started with a simple U-throat lace closure and...
May 2010
2 posts
5 tags
Active Street Mid
It’s been a while since I last designed a mid-cut sneaker and the previous one I did was derivative of an original low-cut design. With that, I started sketching some simple clean patterns that drafted off the unique profile of a mid-cut while maintaining simple functionality.
I knew I wanted to have a high wide tongue, as mids usually look better worn with the tongue popped over a...
6 tags
Argyle Chukka Low
Unless I’m wearing some mid-cuts, I almost never tie my shoes. Like most people with petty laziness, I shoehorn them on my feet using my index finger in the morning and kick them off when I walk in the door. With this in mind I decided to make my most recent design a slip-on. Whether you’re running to the mailbox or out for a quick bike ride to 7 eleven, nothing beats a slip-on for...
April 2010
1 post
4 tags
'Fat Boy' BMX Sneaker
After a couple weeks traveling out of country, I finally managed to put the last touches on a design that’s been 85% complete since March. This latest concept is a wide, heavily padded BMX sneaker with material piecing to accommodate the skaters who still like to rock the fat boys.
Like most of my designs, the upper was an exercise in simple function. The eyestay underlay is a...
March 2010
8 posts
6 tags
Women's Urban Bike Sneakers
My previous attempt at a ladies sneaker yielded some very interesting feedback. I had always assumed that the low-cut vintage canvas style was universally appreciated. Instead, the reception from the women I know revealed a deep split between those who love the high contrast color and tom-boy aesthetic of a vulcanized canvas shoes, and others who would never think of wearing a pair of shoes with a...
5 tags
The Office
Sometimes I forget that not everyone can rock sneakers every single day at work. While that’s no existence that I would ever want for myself, it’s a reality for lots of people. With that in mind, I thought I’d try my hand at something that could be worn in an office with a dress code or to a social event where you have to pretend like you made an effort to look nice.
My initial...
A Clipless Bike Shoe for the Rest of Us
My friend Nat and I have both been looking for clipless (Step-in) bike shoes for a while now and the main problem we’ve encountered is that most of them are ugly as sin. Yeah, cycling shoes are built for function and I’m not going to say that a pair of $200 Sidis don’t give you an amazing return on energy. But, unless you’ve packed a backup pair of kicks, you’re going...
5 tags
Spring on the Brain
This past weekend was the first time I’ve had the opportunity to ride my bike two days in a row and it got me thinking about spring. I decided to take a whack at a simple die-cut flip flop. The upper was designed to have a perforated layer of waterproof synthetic over a Neoprene body. The vamp logo is debossed into the Neoprene and the thong material was designed to be a soft textile to...
4 tags
Something for the Ladies
For my latest design, I chose to step out of my comfort zone a little bit and take a stab at a sneaker designed specifically for women. This is was a difficult design exercise because, for the most part, women don’t wear a whole lot of sneakers. For this design I wasn’t trying to engineer something groundbreaking. My goal was to draw a sneaker that was simple, branded and most...
5 tags
Urban Bike/Skate Outsole
After designing two versions of an upper on the same midsole sidewall, the next logical step was to design an outsole to match. My design objectives were simple, as emphasis on skateboard functionality was paramount. I created a dedicated flex/traction area that blends simple deep flex grooves with perpendicular .5 mm siping grooves that are usually found on nautical footwear. This will...
4 tags
6 tags
Vulcanized Canvas Boat Shoe
This next concept is a nod to the current popularity of boat shoes and moccasin toes. Personally, I’d have a hard time wearing a traditional Sperry-esque boat shoe because it’s just not my personal aesthetic. When I started this design, I wanted to create something that would lean a little closer towards a sneaker so it wouldn’t looked dated when boat shoes fell out of favor. The...
February 2010
2 posts
5 tags
5 tags
