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.

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 leather or nubuck vamp from a breathable 2-layer sandwich mesh in the heel. This will give the sneaker an indestructible front end for flip tricks, while maximizing comfort and airflow in the rear. The placement of the closed seam also maintains the perpendicular line element that has been featured on most of my previous designs. The toecap is designed to be a hot melt synthetic nubuck to add texture. Because the toecap will be bonded to the vamp material through heat, no stitches are necessary. 

This was also a chance to loosen up my placement of the logo and stripe detail. After a couple weeks of exploration I determined that a design DNA of all my previous concepts could be maintained with numerous placement executions. I’m pretty happy with the results.

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 thrilled with the toecap underlay color pop so I’d probably alter it on any future iterations.

A few doodles in yee olde moleskine. I hesitated to post these, but whatever. Enjoy!

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 casual boot that was worth rendering up. I wanted this boot to be something clean that would work in an office environment as well as a Rancid concert. The detail that sold me on this sketch was the layered eyestay. It allowed me to carry the visual element of the metal eyelets all the way up to the collar while letting the wearer use boot lacing hooks for easy removal. 

The logo application is a deep deboss into the full grain leather with a triple stitch on each side creating the lateral stripe that transitions over the quarter panels. In my initial sketch there was an additional leather piece on the side of the boot but I felt like it was unnecessary and detracted from the overall design. The toecap overlay was loosely inspired by U.S. WWII paratrooper boots. For the last colorway, I spent several nights in Illustrator exploring simple geometric textile prints that would add texture without adding any needless novelty. 

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 functionality. 

The upper is designed to be three separate panels of suede over a preppy casual textile in the collar and eyestay. The quarter panel overlays are detailed with laser cut microperforations and the collar overlay is fastened to a molded TPU lacing component that floats over the textile eyestay. The placement of the TPU lacing part allows for increased lacing support while maintaining the continuity of the lateral color blocking. 

The chosen plaid is a placeholder to represent a more considered textile choice. I wish I had time to do more textile inspiration for this design but time constraints limited what I could accomplish. Ultimately, I’m pretty happy with the overall design and the balance between the bold pattern blocking and the simple functional vamp.

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 stable than your average vintage running shoe while looking good with shorts, trackpants or jeans. Nobody looks good pairing Runner’s World marathon sneakers with denim. So when I started sketching, my goal was to include enough classic design elements so this shoe could disguise itself as a vintage runner.

The midsole is designed to be compression molded foam with a TPU shank clip for midfoot stability. The outsole is given superior flexibilty from the multiple flex grooves in the forefoot for treadmill or elliptical machine workouts, while the slim forefoot would fit comfortably into spin class pedal clips. 

The main detail of the upper is a stirrup shaped quarter overlay that visually connects to the shank clip while providing ergonomic multidirectional support. Some of the other upper details, such as the parallel stitch lines, were drawn from previous designs to maintain some aesthetic connection. I included a toecap underlay on the lateral side to add some structural support for the vamp while providing color blocking options. This detail would inhibit flexibility slightly, but the additional support for the pattern was worth the tradeoff. Ultimately, I feel like I came up with a well rounded gym shoe that could also see some action for casual summer wear. 

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. 

Right off the bat, big branding on a shoe is going to alienate a large number of consumers. Combined with a mid-cut collar, this concept is going to appeal to a very select number of sneakerheads. What this shoe boasts is a lightweight foam midsole that is exposed in the heel and concealed in the front by the rubber outsole wrap. This will reduce the weight of the sole greatly while maintaining high abrasion protection from grip tape. The nylon plastic heel clip provides color balance with the forefoot outsole wrap and helps visually maintain a consistent midsole top line. 

The blucher construction of the upper and the closed seam between the eyestay and the forefoot quarterpanel will also ensure longer durability against flip tricks. While the double eyelet rows at the collar theoretically provide more lacing options, the second row of eyelets provides aesthetic integration with the large logo embroidery. The laser-cut microperforations of the big logo are balanced with an identical perf pattern on the front quarter.

I’m pretty pleased with the large branding execution. I was worried it would feel contrived or slapped on, but I think the tonal color blocking of the embroidery as well as its integration with the eyelets make it feel like an intentional design element.  This design would make a great performance skate shoe and the slim forefoot would serve you well with bike clips. 

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 of jeans or track pants and perform as a slim, ergonomic sleeve for ball control. While most soccer trainers feature a low cupsole, I opted for a slim overlasted midsole to create a more natural medial profile. Ideally, this would give you better shot control and the hidden midsole makes the upper appear more like a soccer cleat. The rubber outsole plate is a mix of multidirectional tread following the gait of the foot with the rest filled in by linear grooves for court surfaces.

The upper design is a very simple, slim pattern that can cater to a number of different material applications. Obviously, different parts of the world have different climate needs and with them come varying material preferences. Living in Boston, all suede kicks are my bread and butter. That’s probably not the case for someone living in Ecuador. The tongue is a thin, wide piece of synthetic with a slim foam padding. I cut the tongue lower than some performance indoor soccer trainers because I thought the functional advantage of a high tongue wasn’t worth the aesthetic sacrifice. 

The end result was a sporty street trainer that can serve the ball handling needs of a soccer enthusiast while blending into any outfit. The slim forefoot and T-toe would also make this shoe prime for bike clips, but it would never pass the skate test. The final colorway is a nod to Spain.

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 challenge with this design was to design a vamp that could cover the all the areas of clip abrasion while maintaining the low-cut simplicity of a flat. I went through numerous sketches of vamp designs that varied in complexity. After several rounds of sketching it became obvious that the simple designs were the most successful. 

The final design is a basic two-piece textile upper with an injection molded rubber toe wrap and slip-on closure. The rear half of the shoe is virtually identical to a contemporary ballet flat with a contrasting binding on the collar. The vamp is cut in such a way that covers the top of the foot where pedal clip abrasion would occur, while leaving a low cut window where a normal ballet flat collar would begin.

The closure is designed to be a simple two-way stretch textile that maintains the lateral and medial stripe & logo consistency. In development the length and tension of these straps would be subject to fit testing to ensure comfortability and fit. The combination of the toecap and vamp would make this shoe incredibly durable to the wear and tear of a serious city biker.