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 evolution of my initial branding elements. The lateral stripe has a slightly faster pitch than the absolute perpendicular stripe of previous designs. The logo execution is a small woven label flag stitched under the lateral eyestay. I think the asymmetrical design of this concept adds some dynamism without pushing it far outside of the aesthetic I’ve developed so far. 

The mesh underlays are constructed from a breathable spacer mesh on the quarter joined via closed-seam with a tight single layer textile at the collar. In addition to adding comfort and breathability, the two contiguous meshes will add substantial material depth. 

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 this design on my screen for weeks and I continued to finesse the lines and details because it never quite felt finished. After repeatedly walking away from it, I came to the painfully obvious conclusion that I hated the design and I should just move on. Overlooking this fact set my blogging back substantially because I couldn’t just throw it in the dumpster. Not every post is going to be the best thing I’ve ever done, but there’s already enough shitty work on the internet so I try not add to it.

Anyways, the holidays are over and we’re gonna get back to regular content. Enjoy!

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.

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 biggest complaints about vulcanized rubber shoes is how the 90 degree edge of the sole base is always creating friction when you go to slide your foot into the clip. Those few seconds of fumbling are a giant pain in the ass when you’re trying to take a left at a busy intersection. The slim vamp and minimal toe will allow flawless clip function while the top half of the shoe can have the tongue popped for stylish city riding.

The name is a nod to the pot hole riddled avenue of death which I ride the most.

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.