welcome to slem! SLEM is an international innovation and education institute that specializes in footwear and related industries. We continually research and analyze all stages of the footwear supply chain, from raw materials to retail and anything in between. Our institute includes a Master course, a consulting department and a footwear museum, so we are merging past, present and future. In our classes and in our consulting we combine four pillars: forecasting, design, technology and business, since we feel that real innovation lies in viewing and combining all these aspects in fresh new ways. Improving sustainability is a priority, not an option. We have a broad and global scope: our headquarters are in Waalwijk, The Netherlands, but we also have branches in Italy and China and our classes take place around the world. We collaborate with partners from all corners of the world as well, both institutional and commercial. This means that - apart from our own ‘fab lab’ - we have access to facilities at leading universities and companies, from Hong Kong Polytechnic University to the Technical University of Eindhoven, and from Stahl to Ecco Leather. In this brochure we present what SLEM could do for footwear companies and for parties from outside the industry that would like to connect with them.
designing finishes at ecco leather
slem’s own ‘fab lab’
mapping the future - delft university
stahl‘s lab is open for slem students
instigating footwear innovation We often get the question: what does SLEM actually do? Is it a school? A forecasting company? A creative think tank? A consulting group? Frankly: we are all of the above! At SLEM several activities are intertwined and that is exactly what sets us apart from other innovation institutes. The diagram on the right shows how we work: Our professional forecasting and consulting department, staffed with internal and external footwear experts, does continual research into relevant new developments, both inside and outside the footwear industry. This knowledge is then applied in confidential projects for customers or presented during SLEMinars that are open to the public and to our students. At the SLEMinars we link innovators from outside the industry to footwear (related) companies, instigating effective “cross pollination� that leads to meaningful innovation. During this whole process we also encounter interesting subjects and guest lecturers for our Master of Footwear Innovation. Our students investigate and experiment further during their classes and in personal or company projects, generating knowledge and ideas that eventually flow back into our cycle of activities.
scan your future opportunities Wearable technology, 3D scanning and printing, bioplastics, lab grown leather, omni channel retail, open source design... new developments are moving rapidly and can be quite bedazzling, especially for companies that do not have their own internal R&D department. This is where we come in! We can not only inform you about new technologies and business models, we can also give a well-informed and objective opinion about which direction(s) you should or should not take. We can help you to take full advantage of your future opportunities in a way that suits your mission, budget and human resources. For this purpose we have developed a unique tool: the SLEM scan. This is a process of one day that helps you look at the future of your company, filtering out the noise and stimulating effective and attainable ideas, so you get a clear perspective of your best future opportunities and the path towards seizing them. The SLEM scan is a highly accessible tool for any company. It takes only one day, gives an inspirational yet very practical result and costs only â‚Ź250 (excluding 21% VAT, if applicable).
how does the slem scan work? The scan starts with a questionnaire that you can fill out online. This helps us get a good overview of your company and the challenges you might be facing in the future. Of course this information is treated highly confidential. After reviewing your questionnaire, we form a team of experts - usually two people, maybe more - that have experience in your market. They come to your company to lead the scan. This starts with an interview with the management team, involving as many departments as possible. This assessment takes about two hours and further clarifies the answers that were given in the questionnaire. The assessment will identify your key assets and future challenges. These are then used in SLEM’s footwear innovation game. This is a brainstorming game that helps you filter out which opportunities you could seize and how you could best go about that. This includes both short term and long term innovation opportunities. The footwear innovation game also takes two hours and should be played with several people. As a final step we help you fill out the results of the game in a so called ‘road map’. This diagram specifies the steps that need to be taken towards future innovation, looking at a time frame that is one year ahead, three years ahead and ten years ahead. This creates a clear long term perspective. The SLEM scan can lead to results that you otherwise might not have thought of and can put matters in a realistic perspective. For instance, an international sneaker company approached us because they felt they needed to do something with 3D printing, because they had heard that is a promising technology. However, the scan showed that for the short term it would be much more effective for them to restructure their design department first and to provide training for some more immediate issues.
01 online questionnaire
02 personal interview
03 brainstorming session
p1 ste
p4 ste
p2 ste
04 innovation roadmap
p3 ste
footwear innovation consulting You can use the SLEM scan with your own internal R&D team, but SLEM can also help you to actually apply the road map, for instance by finding the right partners and/or instigating research and development in collaboration with you, involving experts from our wide network and possibly our Master students. This kind of collaboration is what we consider consulting. This service is always entirely custom made and can take many forms. For instance, we can help you find the right partners for future innovation, linking you with suppliers of materials and technologies that are specifically relevant to you. We can help you attract local and global production partners and distributors. SLEM can also function as your external R&D department, actively working on innovation projects that your in-house development team lacks the time for. This can include (long term) design forecasting and the organisation of effective and inspiring design retreats. Since we have a renowned educational department as well, we can also train your staff, bringing them up to speed with new technologies and business models. This expertise is why Stahl has invited us to partner in their Sustainable Leather Technology Academy, for example. Conducting a SLEM scan is helpful before starting any consulting project, but not mandatory. For more information on consulting, please contact our creative director Nicoline van Enter: nicoline@slem.nl. SLEM has a small fab lab in its headquarters in Waalwijk and can offer limited 3D modeling, scanning and printing services to local footwear companies. Please call 0416-757630 for more information or mail to office@slem.nl.
master student projects For short term innovation projects that require no more than a few months, we greatly recommend including our Master students. SLEM’s Master of Footwear Innovation is a unique 9-month program that prepares high-level post-graduate students to become innovative footwear entrepreneurs or consultants. Our students come from all over the world and often already have experience in footwear. They flock to SLEM because of our innovative combination of forecasting, design, technology and business and because of the classes that take place in both Europe and Asia. Our students have to perform several personal and company projects. Company projects are concise projects that can be developed by students during the Master program. The time frame for completion is usually from 1-3 months depending on complexity. Longer projects are possible but then take the form of a final thesis and are to be agreed upon on a case by case basis. Sometimes personal projects can become company projects, if a company wants to invest in the idea of a student. For instance, Ruben Lekkerkerker received a scholarship sponsored by Dutch footwear company Klerx. In his first week at SLEM he had to develop his own online brand, as all students. He came up with the idea for RUIT footwear; a clean looking slip-on sneaker that has no cutting waste due to its rhombus-shaped pattern (ruit in Dutch), which can be scaled and repeated seamlessly. Within a week several leading sneaker blogs had picked up on it and he was invited to join the Cologne Fashion Days. Klerx was just as pleased with the result and is now investing in RUIT footwear to have it produced industrially, while staying true to its sustainable concept. We use a reasonable pricing system for student projects, which we can send you upon request. Please contact our dean Annaluisa Franco for more information: annaluisa@slem.nl.
raadhuisplein 1-2 5141 kg waalwijk the netherlands +31 (0)416-757630 office@slem.nl www.slem.nl facebook: /slemwaalwijk twitter: @slemwaalwijk linkedin: slem-waalwijk instagram: slemwaalwijk