Shoe Business Start-Ups: Ask Me Anything (AMA)

Free Zoom Event – Register Now

 It’s Wade, “The Shoe Dog.”  Today I wanted to share something I’ve noticed among MANY shoe designers and brand builders. No matter what kind of shoe designs they have… Or how they choose to start their business… A lot of them feel overwhelmed and under-supported. It’s common to feel stuck and overloaded when you are starting a shoe business… But things don’t have to stay that way. During this month’s LIVE AMA, I’ll be sharing ESSENTIAL information professional designers and brand builders use to achieve success and build a better shoe brand with LESS effort.

Starting Your Own Shoe Business: Essential Information for Shoe Designers and Shoe Business Brand Builders

Click HERE to register for FREE! 

Event: The “Starting Your Own Show Business” Model: Essential Information that is Changing the Game for Shoe Designers and Shoe Brand Builders.

 

Date: Thurs, May 18  -or-  Sat. May 20, 2023

Time: Thursday session at 6 pm US PDT (9 pm EDT).
(See when it begins in your time zone here.)

Saturday session at 9 am PDT (12 pm EDT).
(See when it begins in your time zone here.)

Where: This AMA (Ask Me Anything) Event is being held LIVE on Zoom by Wade Motawi, “The Shoe Dog,” himself. Best Selling Author, Course Creator, and Shoe Business Guru.

You DO need to register in order to get the Zoom link and attend.

 Simply click HERE to sign up for FREE! I hope to see you there, Wade Motawi, “The Shoe Dog” Wade Motawi, Best-Selling Author of How to Start Your Own Shoe Company plus four other best-selling shoemaking books and Founder of ShoeMakers Academy ™. 

 

Our mission is to help aspiring, creative, individuals overcome the challenges of footwear design, development, and starting a shoe brand. 

See some of the past Live Event Replays Here.

Questions Include: 

• What’s the best sneaker-designing platform you recommend to anyone?
• Any recommendations for shoe making and design school one can attend? 
• Is there a directory of standards to put into our shoe designs?

Start Your Shoemaking Career

Expand your skills and knowledge in modern shoe design, manufacturing, and sourcing with our online masterclass. We offer over 100 footwear lessons for all levels, taught by experienced professionals. Access 24 hours of on-demand video instruction and bonus materials including five shoemaking textbooks.
See Course Details
ALL ACCESS PASS

This course is now included in the All Access Pass! 
125 lessons, over 35 hours of on-demand video instruction for shoe designers, developers, and footwear start-ups. Fast-track your footwear career today!
Learn more: Shoemakers Academy All Access Pass.

Questions Continued…

• What inspired you to design shoes?
• Where do you buy the best fabric?
• What are the 3 main components of running a shoe company?
• What’s the fastest way to get your product out there?
• Any recommendations to improve my shoe illustration and my 3D drawing techniques?
• Is there a such material as tumbled suede/nubuck?
• What’s your opinion on Nike’s ReGrind shoe sole technology?
• What material does Nike use to make outsoles?
• Thoughts on cork as a material for sock liners/footbeds?
• Do you think the Yeezy sneakers are in general overpriced?
• What is the manufacturing cost difference between foam-molded sneakers 
  vs. traditional multipart sneakers?
• Are polymer shoes without lining harmful to skin and foot health?

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Finding the right shoemaking course for YOU is challenging. Attending an in-person footwear course may not be possible if you are a working professional or a student living at home. Also, the cost of in-person footwear training programs may be prohibitively expensive.

Check Out Online and On Demand Courses
Online footwear courses are a great option. Search online for Shoemaking Courses, and you will find many online shoe school options.

There are many free online shoemaking course options available. YouTube.com is an excellent source for shoemaking content; just be careful that you are watching a professional shoemaker. Whether you are interested in DIY home shoemaking for beginners, or advanced footwear business courses, you can easily find online programs.

Top 7 Points to Look for in Online Shoe School:

1. Is the footwear course offered by a reputable company, school, or academy?
Make sure the course offerings and prices are clear, without hidden extras.

2. Does the course provider offer you footwear class options?
You want to find courses that suit your shoemaking interest and are not a one size fits all program.
The course requirements for a shoe designer are very different from that of a shoe developer or a footwear product manager.

3. Is the footwear course instructor qualified to teach the offered courses?
Search online to see what you can find out about the instructors. For example, is the instructor a working professional or a published author in the field of footwear? It’s a good idea to search on LinkedIn.

4. Does the online course provider list the required textbooks?
If so, are the costs for the textbooks included in the cost of the course? If the course requires other materials, check the price and availability beforehand. Some shoemaking tools and components, such as shoe lasts, can be expensive and hard to find.

5. Is customer service responsive and available if you have questions or issues?
Is the course instructor available for coaching or questions?
Should any questions or issues arise, you want to know someone is available to help you. Also, if you have questions related to YOUR specific project, are you able to speak with the instructor to solve your challenges? Do they offer private consulting sessions?

6. Do you know what you are buying? Is there a guarantee?
It’s important to know the full curriculum for the courses you purchase and how the courses will look and work on your computer. Also, if you are unhappy with the online course, is there any guarantee from the online shoe school? Most reputable programs will want to stand behind their offerings. Don’t be afraid to ask for a limited-time money-back guarantee.

7. Do you understand when the course is offered?
Is the footwear training course a live shoemaking event, a one-time webinar, or an on-demand series of lessons you can complete on your schedule and at your own pace? Look for an online shoe design course that allows unlimited access to lessons for at least a year. Also, you should be able to skip around the various lessons with ease to facilitate your personal needs.

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Course Now Open for Enrollment

Learn the shortcuts and troubleshooting skills you need to level up your product development, design, and communication skills!

Adobe Photoshop is a powerful and essential tool for shoemakers but can be complex and daunting.

This course walks beginner and intermediate users through the details of important Photoshop features and techniques shoemakers use daily without bombarding you with complicated and confusing options.

Includes importing, editing, manipulating, an in-depth lesson on Adobe Photoshop color correction for shoes, and much more. More than 4 hours of video content taught by Wade Motawi, “The Shoe Dog.”

Purchase Adobe Photoshop for Shoemakers today at a discounted introductory price and save $100.

Learn on your time and at your own pace. Get the skills to become a better shoe designer, developer, or brand manager and jumpstart your footwear industry career.

See all of the Online Shoemaking Courses here.

The Fast Track
Footwear Curriculum.

Kick start your footwear career today! 100 lessons, over 24 hours of on-demand video instruction for shoe designers, developers, and footwear brand builders. Bonus Content: Textbook Bundle
All 5 shoemaking eBooks
Course Details
Instant Access

Footwear Fitting and Comfort: online course now open for enrollment!

Making shoes that fit comfortably and are correctly suited to their function is critical to the success of your shoe brand. This video course takes you step-by-step through the essential footwear fit development process—indispensable knowledge for all footwear product developers, designers, and brand managers. Learn fit priorities and problem-solving techniques to elevate your brand today.

It has never been easier to get the guidance and instruction you need to design shoes or build your brand from the bottom up – whether you’re a seasoned professional or just starting out.

Elevate your brand: Footwear Fitting and Comfort

Not sure where to start? Check out the introductory course:
“Shoemaking Basics for Designers and Brand Builders”  

This is the foundation course for the entire Shoemakers Academy Program. This course contains the 13 core lessons to get you started fast! Once you complete this course, you will be ready to dig deeper into the business of footwear design and manufacturing.

See the entire Course Catalog here. 

Courses Are Open for Enrollment – Become a better shoemaker today!

Courses Available Now:

Shoemakers Academy All Access Pass: The Full Curriculum at one low price!
Shoemaking for Designers and Brand Builders: Start Here! 2 1/2 Hours of foundational skills. Everything you find in How Shoes Are Made plus more
How to Select Shoe Materials: 14 Lessons inon material selection for your needs, 4 1/2 Hours
Sneaker Authentication Basics: Learn the tell tale signs of fake vs real Nike and more
Creating Footwear Specifications: Step-by-step with a professional to guide you
How To Calculate Footwear Cost: 1 1/2 hours on real factory costing sheets and cost savings
Footwear Cost Engineering: 1 Hour, build product value and improve your profit margins
Footwear Inspection and Quality Control: Inspection skills that are critical to making quality footwear
Building A Modern Shoe Factory: How shoe factories work

Courses Coming Soon*:

Photoshop for Shoemakesr: Jan. 2023
Footwear Sustainability Strategies: Jan. 2023
Footwear Import Duty: Jan. 2023
Starting Your Shoe Business Part 1: Jan. 2023
Shoe Types and Constructions: Feb. 2023
How to Design Shoes: Feb. 2023
DIY Shoemaking for Beginners: Mar. 2023
The Footwear Process Development to Production: Apr. 2023
Footwear Development & Factory Communications: May 2023
(*Please note this is an estimated course schedule.)

Online Courses Available Now!

Exciting news!

Welcome to Shoemakers Academy. We are excited to offer a curriculum of online shoemaking courses for individuals or businesses. Level up your shoemaking skills wherever and whenever you want.

It has never been easier to get the guidance and instruction you need to design shoes or build your own brand from the bottom up – whether you’re a seasoned professional or just starting out.

See the Course Catalog here.  

Start Here! Watch this Free Lesson

Intro Course: Shoemaking Basics for Designers and Brand Builders

Not sure where to start? Check out this sample lesson from the introductory course:
“Shoemaking Basics for Designers and Brand Builders”  

This is the foundation course for the entire Shoemakers Academy Program. This course contains the 13 core lessons to get you started fast! Once you complete this course, you will be ready to dig deeper into the business of footwear design and manufacturing.

Courses Are Open for Enrollment – Start Today!

Courses Available Now:

Shoemakers Academy All Access Pass: 88 Lessons, 16 Hours
Shoemaking for Designers and Brand Builders: 15 Lessons, 2 1/2 Hours How to Select Shoe Materials: 14 Lessons, 4 1/2 Hours Shoe Business Start-Up: 22 Lessons, 10 HoursSneaker Authentication Basics: 13 Lessons, 3 Hours  Creating Footwear Specifications: 9 Lessons, 2 HoursHow To Calculate Footwear Cost: 5 Lessons, 1 1/2 Hours Footwear Cost Engineering: 7 Lessons, 1 HourFootwear Inspection and Quality Control: 11 Lessons, 2 HoursFootwear Fitting & Comfort: 7 Lessons, 1 1/2 HoursFootwear Import Duty :5 Lessons, 1 1/2 HoursBuilding a Modern Shoe Factory: 8 Lessons, 1 1/2 HoursAdobe Photoshop for Shoemakers:13 Lessons, 4 Hours  

Courses Coming Soon:

Shoe Types and Constructions: Summer 2023
How to Design Shoes: Summer 2023
DIY Shoemaking for Beginners: Summer 2023
Footwear Sustainability Strategies: Summer 2022
The Footwear Process Development to Production: Fall 2023
Footwear Development & Factory Communications: Fall 2023

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Free Shoemaking Resources

• SELF-PACED online learning for FREE: Scroll down to see “Unit 1: Learning the Basics of Shoemaking,” and start now.
• HANDS-ON  learning with our SHOEMAKING TEXTBOOKS: Softcover and PDF Ebook textbooks for all levels plus shoemaking lasts, outsoles, and other hard-to-find materials. Visit our SHOEMAKING SUPPLY STORE.
• CORPORATE TRAINING for teams and individuals: Customizable for your team at your level. High-School, University, Individual, Start-Ups, Large or Small Corporate teams. We got you covered.
• PRIVATE CONSULTING with “The Shoe Dog”: Personal, 1-on-1 sessions to get you there faster.

https://vimeo.com/862961982

The Shoe Dog would like to give you a free lesson. Check out the starter course  Shoemaking for Brand Builders & Designers.

Welcome to the online shoe school

We have pulled together an online curriculum of shoemaking articles in a sequence that will take you from the basics of shoe design and shoemaking to advanced material selection topics. Step-by-step you will learn how to design shoes. This collection of articles teaches shoemaking for beginner students of the trade.

Learn how to make shoes with our free online course. You study the basics of shoe design and techniques for mass production. Get a firm grasp of shoemaking terminology, shoe patterns, and construction. Our shoe-making tutorials take just a few hours to read. Supplement your learning with our shoemaking books, materials, and virtual classes for aspiring shoe designers, material managers, brand managers, beginner patternmakers, and at-home shoemakers.

We have taken great care to make learning easy. Throughout our articles you will see shoemaking terms like “last” and “eyestay” highlighted in blue. Simply move your mouse over the highlighted terms to see the definitions. So easy! You can also see all the shoemaking terms together in our Shoe Terms Dictionary.

This course will cover the basics of shoe design and mass production techniques and give you a firm grasp of shoemaking terminology, shoe patterns, and construction. We cover how to design a sneaker tech pack like a professional. The second half is a footwear development class.

Jumpstart your career now. Let’s begin

New Online Course!
Shoemaking for Designers & Brand Builders

Created for footwear newcomers and professionals alike, this course delivers the basic shoemaking knowledge you need to get your career and brand started faster and with fewer costly mistakes.
Course Details
Enroll Now $99

How To Make Shoes
DIY Kits Complete!

We put it all together for you. DIY Build Kits include your choice of material, size, color, step-by-step written instructions. Learn how to assemble shoes
Check It Out!
you can do it!

Unit 1:  Learning the Basics of Shoemaking

In Unit 1 of our shoemaking course, you learn the step-by-step basics of shoemaking and construction. What shoe lasts are and how they determine the shape of your shoe. You will also learn about the parts of a shoe. If you want to learn how to make shoes…you are in the right place!

What does it take to make a sneaker?
How does a factory make shoes?
The shoe last
How Shoes are Made: the basics
Shoe parts diagram
Shoe pattern parts
Running shoe parts terminology
How a new shoe is made: shoe development process
How Shoes are Made video
How to become a shoe designer – 10 steps
Shoe terms dictionary

UNIT 2: Learning Shoe Construction Techniques

Now that you understand the basics, let’s move on to the details of shoe construction, shoe lasting, and what is inside the guts of your shoe. We will cover the two most popular styles of shoe construction: Cold Cement and Vulcanized construction.

Shoe lastingWhat’s inside shoes? Shoe reinforcements
Cold cement vs. vulcanized shoe construction
How Converse All-Stars are made: vulcanized process
How are Nike shoes are made: cold cement construction
Shoe outsole tooling
Shoe construction techniques
What is a fitting trial for shoes? 

UNIT 3: Learning How to Design Shoes

Once you have read through Units 1 and 2, you will have enough basic shoemaking knowledge to start designing your shoe projects. In Unit 3, you will learn how to design shoes. We will review how to go about drawing shoes and how to make shoe patterns.

The shoe design brief
How to draw shoes
Shoe patterns
Shoe designer vs. shoe pattern maker
How to become a shoe designer – 10 steps
What is a shoe pattern?
How to make a shoe pattern
How to design shoe outsole tooling – Part 1
A shoe designer’s tools
Shoe design: logos for shoes
How to make your shoe design a SLAM dunk.

UNIT 4:  How to Specify your Shoe Design

With your new design drawn up, let’s dig deeper and learn how to make a real factory-ready shoe specification sheet. A detailed shoe specification (called a spec sheet) will allow the shoe factory to create just what you are looking for. This footwear development class will teach you how to make your design “production” ready. This section of the shoemaking course will teach you the language and give you the tools to create a proper and professional shoe design specification sheet. You will learn how to design a sneaker tech pack.

Is my shoe design ready for production?
The shoe design specification drawing
How to make a shoe production specification
How to select footwear materials
The Designers Guide to Shoe Material Suppliers
How to spec shoe colors……the Pantone book!
Nike Air Jordan 1 design review: shoe edges
The designer’s guide to shoe leather
How to design shoes – synthetic leather
Textiles for shoe design
Shoe design: know your footbeds
The Designer’s Guide to Shoe Materials 

Unit 5: Start your own shoe business

Are you ready to start your own shoe business? Now it is time to dig deeper into the shoe business. We will help you answer these critical questions! Is shoemaking profitable? How much does it cost to start a shoe company? How do I manufacture my own sneakers? What is the profit margin on shoes? How much money do you need to start a shoe business?  How much should I charge for my shoes?

How much does it cost to make a sneaker?
Finding shoe agents and shoe development contracts
Can I start a shoe company?
How to Start a Shoe Brand
How to Start Your Own Shoe Company
Manufacturing and Importing Your Shoes
How to Build a Shoe Factory
Planning Your Shoe Manufacturing Business
How much does it cost to build a sneaker?
Business Plans for Start-Up Shoe Brands
Italian Quality Handmade Shoes in China
New brand story Nummulit – Urban Shoes with a Minimalist Sole
Make Your Shoe Design Factory Ready: Shoe Maker’s Pre-Flight Checklist

Unit 6: Keep Learning

There is always more to learn in the field of shoemaking. In this section of the course, we have a few more articles that will help you on your journey to becoming a real shoe pro.

Jobs in the shoe trades: working for a shoe brand
Download a shoe last for 3D printing
Can I get custom-made shoes? Yes!
How shoe lasts are made, by Tsubo
Shoemaking books on Amazon
Shoe design books are available on Amazon NOW!
Hand tools for shoemaking
How shoe lasts are made
How New Balance shoes are made
Design & Production of Sustainable Shoes

DIY Shoemaking
Make your own shoes

We put it all together for you. DIY Build Kits include your choice of material, size, color, step-by-step written instructions. Learn shoe making techniques
Check It Out!
you can do it!

Textbooks for Shoemakers

Every aspiring shoe designer and start-up brand should read this series. Available in full-color, printed softcover format or instant delivery with the PDF ebook format.

How Shoes are Made: Covers the basics of shoemaking, shoe design, and manufacturing. Everything you need to know if you are starting in a shoe design office. This is a shoe design handbook for footwear designers and also applicable for beginner shoemakers. Available in softcover or ebook / PDF format.

Footwear Pattern Making and Last Design: This book covers the craft of footwear pattern making, including a step-by-step guide to patternmaking for beginners. This book will show you how lasts are made, the shoe last design process, hidden geometry, special features, functions, and size grading principles.

Shoe Material Design Guide: This will complete your shoe design book library. This book is a masterclass dedicated entirely to the selection and sourcing of shoe materials—an ideal handbook for shoemakers, footwear designers, footwear developers, and shoe manufacturers.

How To Start Your Own Shoe Company: This book is written for shoe entrepreneurs new and old. Not just for shoe designers, How To Start Your Own Shoe Company is a perfect training aid for footwear product line managers and shoe company brand managersh

New Online Courses
for Brand Builders

#1 Shoemaking Basics for Designers and Brand Builders
#2 How to Select Shoe Materials
#3 Creating Footwear Specifications

Course Details
Enroll now
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