UGG cake
I shepherded the CAKE Concept to Deckers in 2014, managed Ken Straka (Mens UGG Sr. Developer) on this endeavor and created all the images for our CAKE Concept presentation (shown above). I wanted Ken to experience designing and developing the product. I'm still wear-testing UGG CAKES, and I can attest, CAKES are very comfortable!
Tsubo cake
The first CAKE Prototype pairs I completed for Deckers targeted Tsubo, I was the their Sr. Developer at the time. I designed, developed and sourced CAKE for Tsubo in 2014. To me, the CAKE-hybrid athletic/fashion incarnation would appeal to Tsubo's core boutique retailer. All the benefits of CAKE, the feather-edged last, premium leathers, the Tsubo trademark molded PU footbed, and 55+ margins. The brand passed on this idea.
In addition, I presented a new low profile vulcanized hybrid I coined, X-wrap (shown in the gallery), where the vulcanized tape was wrapped under the outsole for a fresh look. Both constructions could sit side-by-side and once you put them on, they'd be your go-to stylish comfort shoe. I also presented the tagline walk with us, which to me, hit the mark for where the brand was heading.
Skechers cake
We had the opportunity to produce all kinds of CAKE flavors. It was one of those moments in time where everything came together. We turned these shoes around in two weeks. There were employees spotting CAKE on our sample wall with a bunch of other styles. They gravitated to CAKE, picked them up and wanted a pair. I've been wear-testing 3 pair for over 6 years. Again, hats off to my design partner on this journey, Billy Dill. I really enjoyed baking some CAKE!
cake PROTOTYPE
The idea came to me when our company placed restrictions on opening new molds. I thought we could make an anatomical feather-edged last and just wrap die cut sheets of rubber for the outsole like a sheet of cake. This "prototype" was made and sent back to me in less than a week with only providing quick sketches and simple direction. I knew immediately we were onto something and quickly partnered with a great designer, Billy Dill, whom I respect tremendously, to design a line of unique CAKE styles. I'm very proud of what we came up with in less than two weeks.
skechers(2009-2013)
I returned to Skechers as a Design Technician supporting the new company initiative, Shape-ups. Spending most of my time in a technical-support role for 5 designers, helping them with advanced and technical development. I was also tasked with designing technical Shape-ups and any advanced ideas needing support.
I transitioned into a full-time design role reporting to Mark Nason, Executive Vice President of Product, for both the Mens USA and Work lines. Working in two categories kept the challenges fresh and interesting. My role was to turnaround complete upper & outsole designs, including tech packs.
I was consistently delivering first development samples that were ready to sell. Shown above is the Talisman (photo in the gallery) and the second image, a snapshot of my ability to execute technical and fashion tooling designs. I continued working with Skechers until joining Deckers in the winter of 2013.
The doghouse
The Doghouse seemed to be the perfect stop for me. I started freelancing again and set up my studio in the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains in Asheville NC. With a few new clients and several old ones, I embarked on a balance between work and photography. My clients requested advanced ideas (Footjoy), design and technical support (Cleatskins), and tooling ideas (Heelys).
HEELYS "IT'S FUN SO WE MADE IT!"
When arriving at Heelys in October of 2006, I was presented with a unique problem. On my first day of work I was exposed to a metal chain-link cage in the warehouse. In that cage, there had to be over 100 SMUS ( special make-ups). I was the VP of Design & Development for a small company planning to go public with truly only one product at 65 dollars and every retailer having their own flavor. We did what we could to improve our product offerings with a great team: Erik Purdom (Design Consultant), Jimmy Tsen (Development contractor), and in-house, a very talented graphic & footwear designer, Ryan Wills. Our first thought was that you could go heeling in any type of footwear, and it didn't need to be just skate silhouettes. Second, find a new factory source that could build compelling & technical product (Pou Chen). Lastly, improve the collectibility and function of our wheels (our lifeblood). Our team was able to execute on this direction in one season and followed our mantra, "If it's fun, We will make it!"
HEELYS FACTORY AD
I was directed to take over the advertising for Heelys. At the time, Heelys budgeted and estimated $12,000 dollars to create their national ads. I partnered with my footwear Designer, Ryan Wills, who was an excellent graphic designer, to secure an advertising firm that could up our game and support the product line we were creating.
We envisioned a direct-to-consumer strategy with the Gamer footwear line and Gamer website. We launched the campaign with this Gamer ad (shown above). The site also included a "countdown" (website-only) collectible line of limited gaming shoes that would be tied-in with current gaming imagery, i.e. Halo, and introduce hidden product treasure games to excite the consumer and Power Up with the Heelys Gamer.
heelys multi-sport
The retailers were burdened with saturated "special make ups" and inventory. It was only a matter of time before someone would break their agreed upon retail price of $65 dollars and dump their product. For the record, it ended up being Dick's Sporting Goods. They dropped the Heelys price to $39 dollars (ish). It didn't help that heeling was banned from schools and malls, the two places kids wanted to glide in their Heelys.
Our team still tried to create a new and fun product line as directed by our mantra, if it's fun we are going to make it. We designed and developed a multi-sport product line for biking, skating and scootering, called X-Sport. Our product incorporated a hidden insole/midsole, along with a "grippy rubber" outsole compound. As far as retailers and Wall Street was concerned...they were wondering, where's the wheel?
skechers work (2002-2005)
Skechers management handed me the Work line and sent me to a safety convention. That was one boring show, but what I saw through all the black and brown 8" boots and safety gismos was opportunity. Targeting Skechers' younger consumer base, I envisioned cute glitter steel-toe shoes and something more fashionable than Dad's Redwings for hard-working women and men. I managed a small team consisting of a Technician, Peter Wang and Product Line Manager, Panzellia Leslie.
Together with the VP of Sales, we grew the work business from $8-9 million to more than $40 million in three short years. We had a great team! I was involved in all aspects of the R&D process from marketing direction to technical support. Work was a healthy business for Skechers during this period. We had the right product, at the right time, at the right company, with the right team. That formula is very difficult to achieve.
skechers (1998-2002)
Skechers is a unique company, so product driven that it doesn't have a marketing department. This business model allowed me to thrive in a design & development role. I was able to develop my designs, a skill honed for 7 years. As a Sr. Designer, I was tapped for all categories. It kept the job interesting working on men's sport one day (first slide), women's fashion (third slide) the next, and finish the week with a kid's project or two.
This approach to quantity sharpened your skills and trains you for speed-to-market systems. I had my share of upper and outsole designs during this era (slide two). Because of my experience as a design-developer, sketches, design solutions, and tech drawings yielded marketable first development samples with little or no resampling.
I continued to design and develop products from trends I saw abroad. Flex-fit (slide three), is an example of one such trip to Europe. It was inspired by the Nike Superfly construction, an unstructured, unlined upper glued directly to the midsole sans insole. I thought it would be a perfect fashion platform to build a line for Skechers.
The trends for women at the time were Pilates and yoga. You may ask: Why design footwear for activities to which you don't wear shoes? I would ask: What shoes embody Pilates and yoga? And Flex-fit by Skechers was it.
mozo
My original idea for Mozo (a porter that helps you with your bags), was to design and manufacture handmade bags in the USA. We ended up starting a unisex comfort line of footwear instead. I remember, at one point, we had cases of stacked first production shoes in our living room from floor to ceiling that you needed to navigate as if you were in a maze. I left the Mozo endeavor for financial reasons in 1998. The brand stayed alive thanks to my old EQ business partner, Jim Agnew, with help from then husband & wife, Erik & Nancy Purdom, to continue the Mozo journey.
Eventually, Mozo would be sold to Deckers Brands, where I finally reconnected with my brand in 2013. The images above were shot in 1998 while traveling cross-country with my photographer friend Bruce Kurosaki. We staged the photographs in an old quarry train-depot in Pennsylvania and the second, shot outside an oil & gas museum curated by a very kindhearted and enthusiastic one-armed man.
I'm very proud of trying to create our own brand without capital investment. We wanted to make premium product that would not wear out. This commitment to quality included free outsole replacements for Mozo customers.
Dr. Evil
A trailer was airing the new movie, Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery in 1997. They kept showing Dr. Evil trying to make a 36-point turn in a bunker-like hallway. Plastered on the wall was my EQ logo, Dr. Evil's logo. Yikes! I was waiting for a million dollar ransom for getting my logo back.
edge quest
Edge Quest needed to be resilient to be a successful design & development company during this time (1993-1998). The industry flooded the market with a magnitude of competitors. We worked with a plethora of shoe companies, but never really secured the partnerships I envisioned when starting the company in 1993. As a creative person I was spending 80-90% of my time trying to secure new clients and a very small percentage of time creating.
I continued designing with a paper-layering technique that I started while interviewing with LA Gear in 1989. This concept shoe for Airwalk was fun to create, but not too friendly for changes. The Apple computer was hitting the stage during this era and I was exposed to the future of computer-aided footwear design. Even with the iMac, it would take years before I was comfortable designing in Illustrator & Photoshop.
Edge quest ads
I launched Edge Quest with my business partner, Jim Agnew & his wife Laurie in 1993. Our mission statement was threefold. First, was to provide customized R&D services for the footwear industry. Second, offer EQ patents for innovative performance and comfort technologies, with several patents pending. This included offering EQ custom-developed new technologies to meet unique client needs. Finally, Edge Quest would launch a new brand of comfort shoes, Mozo.
I was in charge of advertising and worked closely with my photographer & friend, Bruce Kurosaki, to create this first ad to promote our customizable EQ services. In the second image, I worked with my friend , a talented artist, Stephen Ludwig, to produce my timeless Shoedog illustrations. The third ad was also created by Bruce and myself to establish a print image that would capture the "Born from the Earth" product line we were designing and developing for our client, AD One.
karl malone 1992 olympics
A proud moment for me was watching Karl Malone wear my Catapult basketball shoes in the 1992 "Dream Team" Olympics. I was 28 years old at the time.
la gear catapult
I was lucky to have both a fashion and technical performance footwear exposure in my first industry job. LA Gear was a family brand, product driven, and one hot stock. My foray into traveling abroad started in Korea where our company sourcing was based at the time. For my second trip, I was not able to execute new and innovative product in Korea, so I found a new factory while traveling in Taiwan named Pou Chen. They were the premier performance factory and they were open to working with us. While partnering with Pou Chen, we built the Catapult line featuring Karl Malone & Akeem Olajuwon. Above is my portfolio image highlighting the Malone shoe, the carbon-fiber catapult and the heel view showing sublimated printing and a clear heel pull tab.
I designed the next evolution of the Catapult for LA Gear for an emerging training category called cross training. I worked with a Hollywood movie sculpture to sculpt my organic sidewall detail in clay, and developed this shoe in Pou Chen, engineering the 360-clear injected heel unit using one mold for left & right to save mold costs.
LA Gear lights & sound
I was transferred into kids footwear as the design team leader (working with Dave Pelsue), which allowed me the opportunity to interface with the kids marketing team, present concepts to the CEO, and travel to Hong Kong sourcing electronics manufactures. We were producing 40+ projects seasonally, each with their own unique light configuration and technical challenges. Several of the projects are shown above. As a footnote, I heard that folks working in the warehouse would walk down the isles and randomly hear roars from the dinosaur boxes. Guess there was a glitch in the wiring.