How to Design Shoes: Drawing Technique

If you want to learn how to design shoes you must first learn the names of the basic shoe parts! Secondly,  You must learn how to draw shoes.  Drawing by hand or by computer is how you will detail and communicate your shoe design.

This is the most important part in learning how to design shoes.  For your shoe to come to life you must be able to describe every detail.  If you can’t show what makes your shoe design unique and special it will always be just an idea in your mind and not a shoe.  A drawing will also help you discover the details of your shoe design.

A highly detailed shoe drawing will show design features and flaws, allowing your shoe design evolve.  Your shoe drawings must also communicate the design details to your co-workers, managers, buyers, customers and shoe factory technicians.  From start to finish in the shoe design process, many people will need to understand your ideas if they are going to help you make your shoe idea into a real shoe!

Once you have the design compete it’s time to create the product specification.  All the details that turn a  shoe drawing into a shoe are required.  Materials Specs, color numbers, foam density, rubber hardness need to be defined.

How to Design Shoes: Footwear Materials

For your new shoe design to really come to life you will need to specify  the shoe materials.  A huge part in learning how to design shoes is understanding how and why to select particular materials for your shoe.   Your material choice will decide how expensive or inexpensive your shoes will be in the store.  Your material choices will also effect flexibility, durability, comfort and import duties.   You will need to understand the design qualities and limitations of leather, textiles, synthetics, foam and rubber as they relate to shoe design.   The material you select for your shoe design will have an impact on the fabrication techniques, stitching procedures, reinforcements, and even the type of glue used to assemble the outsole to the upper.
You can learn more here The Designer’s Guide to Shoe Leather, here How to Design shoes – Synthetic Leather , here Textiles for Shoe Design, here Importing Shoes : HTS Shoe Import Duty and Shoe Tariffs and here How much does it cost to make a sneaker?

How to Design Shoes: Shoe Lasts

The shoe last is the most important part of your shoe design.  The shoe last is the form used to create the 3D shape of your shoe design. The shoe last can be made of wood, plastic or metal.  In the design phase, the last is used to transform your 2D line art in a flat pattern that can be assembled, then stretched into a 3D shape. The shape and adjustments to last dimensions are where the art and science of shoe making collide.  The perfect last will make your shoe look, fit and flex great!  The wrong last will make a great shoe design into a wreck.  In production, the last is used to stretch the sewn upper into shape, then hold it in place while the outsole is bonded.  The last must be a strong material to withstand the lasting pressure and hydraulic pressure used to secure the outsoles.  The shoe last must also be smooth and clean so the shoe lining is not damaged during the assembly process.

Synthetics For Shoe Designers

Whatever you call it, synthetic, synthetic leather, PU leather, pleather or just PU this material is another must have for modern sport shoes.  If you want to learn how to design shoes you must have an understanding of modern synthetic materials.  This class of material offers the shoe designer a huge variety of colors, textures and features at a range of prices.  While synthetics were once considered to be cheap junk not suitable for high quality shoes, times have changed!

These synthetic materials are now high performance and are  often a composite made of two layers.  A backing layer made of woven or non-woven polyester fibers combined with an external surface by “dry” lamination process or by liquid “wet” processes.  The least expensive synthetics have a fibrous woven backing with PVC skin made by wet process.

The high-end PU leather starts with a water-resistant micro fiber PU backing.  This backing has a smooth surface, cuts cleanly, and can be dyed to match the surface materials. The micro fiber style backing can be ordered in .5 to 2.00mm thicknesses, has some stretch, and can have a water-resistant treatment.  On top of this backing the skin can be applied.

Polyurethane plastic film .2 to .5mm thick is made in a separate operation and the two layers are then rolled together with heat and pressure.  The PU outer skin is then printed, embossed, scuffed or polished to create one of the millions of surface options.  The largest PU maker has hundreds of different emboss patterns that can be applied to hundreds of different surfaces. If you can meet the order volume required, you can pick any color you want!

So lets look at some other features of synthetic leather.  There are four common surface materials, PVC (Polyvinyl Chloride) is the cheapest, PU (Poly-Urethane) can be of higher quality with many surface options, TPU (Thermo-Plastic Urethane) and there is also a class of materials made of PU fibers without a surface skin. Of these four types PVC and PU are similar in construction, a skin with backing.  The TPU material tends to be single layer material with a finer emboss.  PU materials are also offered as a solid, skinless material, this can have a brushed surface to look like suede or nubuck.

PVC leather is the most basic synthetic leather, made by wet process the surface is a sealed skin usually embossed.  Liquid PVC is poured on a textured release paper then a cloth is rolled on while the surface is still wet.  PVC leather will often have a woven backing with limited stretchability. This no problem for shoes with pieced together toe and vamp construction but not so good for smooth toe lasted shoes. This material is the cheap stuff found on inexpensive shoes. When it’s pulled tight it may wrinkle and the backing surface will X-Ray through the surface.   Perfect for cheap shoes and can be found mixed on some shoes used as a cost cutting feature.  I would never spec PVC leather for shoes that retail for more than $75.00 USD. Thickness ranges from .8mm to 2.00mm depending on the backing layers and surface treatment.   Surface texture is limited due to the release paper process.

PU leather is another miracle material for shoes. Available in almost any color, surface finish, and can be treated with many special features. Thickness ranges from .8mm to 2.00mm depending on the backing layers.  PU leather is made with a sealed skin like full grain leather but can be brushed to look like nubuck or fine suede.  The PU skin is made by release paper process but is dry when combined with the backing. A heated steel roller with the emboss pattern is used to laminate the skin and backing. This allows for a deeper, crisper emboss pattern. The PU surface readily accepts embossing and printing effects. The PU skin is stretchable and durable so it can be combined with a lastable backing material.  This allows PU to be used on toe caps of sports and casual shoes.

PU leather is also made in high abrasion versions and can have water-resistant backing.  PU material with micro fiber backing cuts cleanly and looks great when perforated. Backings can be color matched so cut edges look clean – they can even be ordered with accent colors for a neat “TRON” effect.

The PU fiber backing materials are also made without the skin layer.  This material has a brushed surface and is known as “Ultra suede,” “Alcantara™,” Hi-skin Chamude or Amara Microfiber Synthetic Leather.  These high quality micro fiber suede materials can be expensive but they are great for use on shoes, gloves, linings and trim.  Being colorfast and waterproof ultra suede quickly replaced suede in sports shoes that will be exposed to water.

The TPU materials are used for accent parts and for RF welding applications.  The TPU materials are not for use in structural parts of the shoe.  TPU can be transparent white the PVC and PU must be opaque.  TPU is also offered very thin.  .3mm to .8mm.

Download a Sneaker Last for 3D Printing:

I’ve had many requests to offer a shoe last for purchase (sorry we don’t have this ready yet).  So, while we are working on a way to cost effectively supply you lasts and outsoles, we have put together a .STL 3D printing file of a great shoe last for you to download.
This last is great for your DIY shoe projects.  This last has a standard athletic outline with a well curved arch, plenty of toe space and is relatively thick on the lateral side so its fit is accommodating.  Heel lift is 6mm and the last has a toe spring of 8mm.  The feather edge is in the middle between sharp and round so you an make a stobel pattern or board last without difficulty.
The file is a Men’s size 9 last.  You can make your own size with a little creativity.  The .STL file can be scaled in X, Y and Z.  While a technically perfect last grade is not made by direct scaling, this size 9 can be graded into a 8 or 10 without getting too far off the standards for last making.
If you have access to a decent sized 3D printer you can print this last full size in about 5 hours. We have a really slick MakerBot Model Z18 on hand so we tested the file.  We printed the sneaker last with 0% fill, 2 shells and scaled to 275MM Long USA size 9.  With 0% fill the last is fragile but perfect for filling with expandable foam, casting resin or plaster for a more durable last.

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The Shoe Design Brief:

How does the shoe design process really work?  Does a brilliant young shoe designer just create the new Adidas Power Boost shoe design out of thin air?  Not really, our designer can’t do it all alone. Our brilliant young shoe designer is just one part of a team of professionals that may include the Product Line Manager (PLM), the Product Manager (PM), Footwear Developer, pattern maker and Engineer.  The Design brief is the document the entire team will use to create the new shoe.

The footwear design brief is the instruction sheet and road map the product team will follow as they create the shoe. The design brief has information that each of our team members will need to get the job done right and to make the shoe a success. The design brief is often submitted to the company’s management for review before a project starts. With the manager’s approval, the design brief becomes a written record of the shoe development teams goals for the project.

Who makes the shoe design brief?  There are no rules to this process, every company has their own process. In many companies the shoe Design Brief is a collaboration. The Product Manager is usually tasked with creating the brief, but he may meet with the designers or his design manager to collect style ideas, the PM should also be talking to his sales manager and sales reps for any price information or market intelligence about competitors.

A design brief for shoes can be a 1 page document, a 20 page report or pasted up concept board. The format I have used has the design brief broken down into two parts. The first part covering the price, demographics, competitors and technical details. The second part is the “Visual brief” and it can detail stylistic direction for the shoe.

So what questions should the shoe design brief answer? The answer is…it depends on the type of shoe you are working on. The running shoe design brief will be different from an army boot. So lets look at the basics.

What is the function of this shoe?
Running, Basketball, Snowboarding, Tennis or Skating

Do the shoe have a special feature?
thick midsole, thin midsole, fat tongue, no tongue etc.

Who is this shoe for?
Men, Women, a new Professional athlete, mall rats

What retail price is planned for the finished shoe?
Price point, Mid range, Deluxe or High end

When will it arrive in stores?
Spring , Summer, Winter, Fall or holiday selling seasons

What is the silhouette?
Ultra low, Low cut, Mid cut, High top

What is the target environment for this shoes?
Forest , Office, Desert, track, school, mountains?

What trends are up and coming?
Neon, earth tone , transparent, plaid

What countries will this shoe be sold in?
USA, Canada, China, Europe, Australia

What materials should be used?
High tech synthetic or classic leather

This there a competitor’s item doing well?

How many different color ways are required?

 Is there something new technology your engineers are working on?

 Is there a plan for import duty?

 Are there existing outsole molds that can be or must be used?

 Is there a particular new design element or material to try on this new shoe.

A simple Visual Design Brief

The Visual Design Brief
The visual brief will include photos of other shoes, cars, clothing or anything the PM thinks can help the footwear designer set the style or specific design details.  In some cases if the shoe is for a pro athlete, you may be inspired by the athlete’s personal style or something they like.

This information should all be in the designer’s mind when pen hits the paper.  First step the rough concept drawings.  Just get the idea first.  Once the design direction has been set the designer may create a CAD drawing to refine the concept.

Step by Step Guide
Footwear Brand Building

Learn more about the cost to make a sneaker and the rules for importing shoes by checkout How To Start Your Own Shoe Company. 195 pages, 330 color photos.
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