Slemazine #1

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introducing SLEM After almost two years of preparation we are very proud to introduce you to our new footwear innovation and education center called SLEM, by means of the first SLEM magazine. Our activites will expand as we go along, so please keep checking our website: www.slem-waalwijk.blogspot.com.

You will find that this magazine is filled with an abundance of valuable information about footwear innovation and education, covering both long term and short term developments in footwear design. We welcome any questions and input, for which you can email us at: slem.waalwijk@gmail.com.

SLEM is a nonprofit organization; by buying our magazine your are supporting our activities and we kindly thank you for that. Currently we are preparing to move to our final location and we will keep you posted about our official opening celebrations in September of 2012. We look forward to seeing you there!

Carl van der Putten project manager SLEM

Nicoline van Enter creative director SLEM

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Contents Introducing Masterclass Industrial Footwear Design

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Trend information AW 2013-14

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Theme 1: Coming of Age

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Theme 2: Bewitched

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Theme 3: Retrometry

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Theme 4: Simplicity

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Theme 5: Mish Mash

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Catalogue The Future (Un)Folds

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Index

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trends AW 13-14 On the next pages we will present a summary of the most important trends for AW 2013-14, combining information from a variety of resources, including the most recent catwalk and graduation shows and detailed footwear images from footwear trade shows. SLEM’s creative director Nicoline van Enter, renowned for the forecasts she made with her company Ytrends, has distilled five long term trend themes that are relevant for both men’s and women’s footwear and sneakers. In the future you can expect SLEM to offer trend seminars, yet should you require more information in the mean time, we are happy to help you. Please email us at: slem.waalwijk@gmail.com.

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Joshua Dalsimer

coming of age

In the hunt for authenticity and quality we have now finally ended up in the period before the industrial age, taking inspiration from the turn of the previous century and even before. This trend is not just fed by a hunger for nostalgia, it also fits the need in our current society for a more formal appearance. Furthermore, it offers romance and even mystery. Even though society as such appeared western, customs were very different, so we especially find inspiration taken from the oddities of those days, as is portrayed in the images on this page. This idea is also reflected in the footwear on the next pages: a lot of attention has been paid to craft and quality, making shoes look aged and antique, yet there are subtle twists to them.

Alex Randall

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Guidi

shape

Logically, shapes and proportions in this story are greatly inspired by footwear from the turn of the 19th century, or even before. This will present some challenges for today’s consumer, because both lasts and shafts were much slimmer then, hugging the arch, ankle and leg, yet without using any stretch materials. Back then, many shoes were made to measure by a cobbler. Translating this idea to our current system of mass production requires great attention to fit and some ingenuity, such as slightly elongating lasts for comfort and adding zippers or (hidden) elastic parts in order to make the shaft fit snugly without having to depend on just the laces.

Carol Christian Poell

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women Inspiration is taken from old fashioned lace-up booties, which at first sight can actually appear old. Yet the proportions and shapes of the heels give away that these shoes are actually current, Stacked leather is used to create rather chunky rounded heels and wedges.

Ma+ PS Kaufman

Jean Baptiste Reautureau

Men’s shoes have a rather flamboyant streak in this story, looking back at the dandy-ish style of the 19th century, Lasts are slim, straight and elongated and heels are relatively high, yet still masculine,

McQ

men

Jean Michel Cazabat

Alexander McQueen

Guidi

Guidi

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con struc tion

This story is especially directional for casual high-end footwear, so the focus is on sturdy hand crafted constructions with a casual twist. In general inspiration comes from traditional constructions, yet with the focus being on craft and uniqueness, we also find modern hand made interpretations, like these rubber dip outsoles

Carol Christian Poell

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Guidi

a 1923

Soles either really are or appear to be completely hand crafted, showing nails and/ or stitching. The boot by A 1923 shows what we mean by adding a current twist: a modern prefab profile sole was attached to an otherwise traditional leather outsole construction.

soles

Officine Creative

uppers a 1923

a 1923

With the focus being on beautiful materials and a hand crafted feel, we find uppers that have a rather minimal construction: unlined and with panels that are simply cut rather than stitched, or with seams that are turned outwards.

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colour and material

The focus is largely on the finish, which should make sure the shoe looks aged. Please realize that this is not a distressed and torn look though, It is more like the shoes were worn by someone from an upper class family who did not have to do any hard labour, yet they were kept in the attack for at least a century, showing dust, mould or salt stains, but no damages such as tears or cuts. The colours as such are natural and rich, with warm browns, bottle greens and oxblood reds, but due to the finish these are a little desaturated.

Martin Margiela

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Officine Creative

finish

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Here you see the weathered finishes we spoke of, staining and oxidizing the surface, either allover or partially. This story is mostly about leathers and suedes with a high quality though, either smooth or with a natural looking grain.

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O’Keeffe

Elin Melin

Martin Margiela

Christoper Raeburn

OXS

Boris Bidjan Saberi

Anatin Dietro

Colours are very rich and natural, with a focus on warm browns, dark reds and violets or hunter’s green. They are used in rather monochrome colour ways, combining finished and unfinished looks, so on some parts of the shoe the colour looks faded or burnished.

Atelier do Sapato

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colours John Varvaty

Guidi

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Angelo Musco

be witched This story portrays a dark vision of the future, reflecting people’s fears of any kind of apocalypse, whether it is Earth crashing into another planet, an alien invasion or science turned bad, changing the human race as we know it. At the same time there is a curiosity for the mystery of what comes after, as is shown in the images of Victor Enrich who gives a dark surreal spin to his photographs of modern cities, or the abyss filled with vortexes of humans made by Angelo Musco. The work of both artists is frightening yet stunningly beautiful at the same time. The same counts for the shoes in this story, They start from a clean modernist perspective, but with a surreal ‘bewitched’ touch. Victor Enrich

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Asher Levine

shape

Shape is essential for this story which focuses mostly on proportion rather than on colour or material. Basically all designs in this theme share the same recipe: they start from a known classic, clean that up and then distort it in some way. Asher Levine’s take on Converse brilliantly portrays how that works. He took the classic Allstar silhouette, hid the fastening and then elongated the shaft in a very geometric way. Obviously these shoes are experimental, yet you can use the same design principle in a more modest way for commercial styles.

Asher Levine

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Acne

Hussein Chalayan for Puma

Cinzia Araia

organic We find both organic and geometric silhouettes in this story, yet especially the organic ones have a mysterious ‘bewitched’ quality, like the fangs underneath the shoe by United Nude for Iris van Herpen, or the heels of Hussein Chalayan’s sneakers for Puma. New technologies such as rapid prototyping are key to achieve such alienating shapes.

geometric

Camilla Skovgaard

Acne

Asher Levine

United Nude for Iris van Herpen

Ann Demeulemeester

The geometric silhouettes have a more architectural look, yet they also play with distorting proportion, for instance by combining low and flat heels in one shoe, as was done by Acne, or by playing with covered wedges. In general these shoes have a lot of volume, yet they are still sexy. Fastenings are minimized or hidden.

Acne

Gareth Pugh

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con struc tion

Gareth Pugh

Construction is strongly inspired by armour, which is no surprise considering the dark nature of this story. Uppers are layered, either in a subtle way by placing parts on top of each other with minimal stitching or in a more extreme sense, by ‘fencing them in’, as is shown in these two styles.

Asher Levine

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Cinzia Araia

Asher Levine

minimal Uppers are either deconstructed or show minimal construction, featuring unlined shafts that are simply wrapped or folded. To maintain the architectural look, materials are firm though and cut in straight, geometric panels, covering upper and sole.

Cinzia Araia

Asher Levine

Armour is a strong inspiration, leading to styles that are made up out of shells of leather or synthetics that are nailed into the upper material. To preserve comfort they are able to hinge in areas where this is necessary.

Gareth Pugh Cinzia Araia

armour Asher Levine

Roderick Pieters

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colour and material

Asher Levine

With the emphasis being on shape, colours and materials are plain and basic, yet not boring. Since black and grey are key shades, we find materials that are textured. In contrast to the previous story these textures do not have to look natural at all, but can have a high-tech, futuristic or mysterious feel.

Asher Levine

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texture Textures look like alien animal skin, either in leather or in synthetics. Technologies such as laser slitting lead to new futuristic kinds of ‘fake fur’. Acne

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Bart Hess for United Nude

Calvin Klein

BLACK

Gareth Pugh

colour The key colour for this story is black, yet we also find some other sensual shades, like blood red or skin tones. Generally, all styles are unicolour or monochrome, to emphasize the silhouette.

Acne

United Nude for Iris van Herpen

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Studio Ve

retro metry This third story is part of the ongoing trend in retro styles, which is now getting a modernist touch, hence the name ‘Retrometry’. In contrast to the previous story, this theme shows a much more positive outlook on the future, not prediction this disruption, but continuation of what we have achieved so far. It is mostly taking inspiration from Nordic design, with its clean geometric shapes and fresh colours. Art movements like De Stijl, with its geometric colour blocking, are influencing the design of footwear. As in the previous theme we can recognize a similar recipe: known classics are abstracted in shape and then coloured using bold colour blocks. Note Design Studio

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Fly London

shape

In this story both silhouette and colour use are key, since both emphasize and complement each other. Classic archetypes are abstracted to a degree where they can hardly be recognized and are then coloured in a way that makes them look even more geometric.

United Nude

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Won Hundred

Acne

Yves Desfarge

wedges classics Here you see how classic archetypes can be abstracted. Often, only one element is altered, for instance, putting a pointed toe on a classic loafer or giving the heel an architectural feel. Esska

United Nude

To create shoes that are both retro, yet feminine and geometric, we see a focus on all kinds of wedge heels. Apart from angular geometric shapes, we also see more ‘friendly looking’ organic varieties, sometimes combining both a straight heel and a wedge. The colour blocking we mentioned, is continued on the sole.

JW Anderson Acne

Bally

Balenciaga

Jason Wu

Hoon Chung

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con struc tion

Prada

The constructions in this story often look like two or more completely opposite shoes were fused or just directly attached together. These Prada styles for instance, could be considered a hybrid of a rain boot and a classic oxford or high-heeled sandal. On the next page we find some more examples of hybrids, yet the influence from rainwear is an important one to keep in mind.

Prada

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Ostwald Helgason

reform For a trendy audience we find styles that look like they were deconstructed and then put back together using another shoe.

Swear

fuse Mihara Yasuhiro

We also find an influence from sportswear, merging eva outsoles with classic uppers, yet in a more exaggerated way than before, adding lots of volume, whilst keeping the weight low. Pam Hogg’s idea, using a classic bag to cover a shoe is intriguing and could be applied in a more commercial manner.

Hego’s

Mihara Yasuhiro Acne

Surface to Air

Kei Kagami

Pam Hogg

Thom Browne

Nuo Chen

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colour and material

Fornarina

Colour and material really make a design in this story and you can take them quite far. If we look at clothing collections we find that they mix both colour and material blocking, combining a range of contrasting prints in geometric patterns, Translated to footwear this leads to panels made in different colours and materials, giving a fashionable twist to rather classic styles.

B-Store

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Lucielle L’Italien

Lola Ramona

Basso Brooke

Cole Haan

Walter van Beirendonck

Chie Mihara Floris van Bommel

graphics Geometric patterns are key for materials and for footwear these can be achieved in a number of ways, from printing to weaving and patchwork. If you think this is not commercial, then please remember that multi-colour shoes combine well with everything too!

Hiriko Nakajima

Trickers

colour In general the recipe for colour use is to take a classic neutral shade and juxtapose it with one or multiple bright contrasting colours, using bold colour blocking. For shoes in a higher price range we expect to see an original use of ‘overprinting’, as was done in Walter van Beirendonck’s collection: printing one big geometric shape over multiple parts.

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Annie Vallis

Eatable of Many Orders

Khrystyna Fomenko

simpli city

The main principle of this theme is to combine the best of both worlds: natural and man-made. There is a growing need for sustainable products and most people assume - although not always correctly - that natural materials are always eco. However, consumers are getting fed up with things that look ‘granola’ and want products to look attractive. At the same time, natural raw materials are getting scarce and thus more expensive, which is apparent in the rising prices of leather and wood, for instance. To compensate for these extra costs constructions will be minimized, which in turn enhances the modern vibe.

Khrystyna Fomenko

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Acne

shape

In order to maintain a clean modern look, we find minimalist styles and silhouettes, stripping a shoe down to its bare essentials. This counts for all kinds of footwear, as you can see here, from casual to dress. Shapes are balancing organic and geometric elements, with a strong architectural flavour, playing with proportions.

Acne

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silhouette sober The recipe for this story is: creating a clean silhouette, omitting any details and then making it in luxurious natural (looking) materials. The styles in this story are generally nonseasonal, which makes sense, because they are meant to be timeless.

Coclico

Vic Matie Liebeskind

Especially for women’s shoes the silhouettes show what the fusion between man made and natural means: geometric architectural shapes, often with disproportional heels, are made in natural materials or colours. Cinzia Araia

Yves Desfarge

Acne

Yifang Wan

Ann Demeulenmeester

Lanvin

Minimarket

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con struc tion

Surface to Air

Rather than speaking of construction, we could better speak of ‘deconstruction’ for this story, since the idea is to make construction both minimal and visible. This means that seams are either absent or turned outwards, that elements are attached in other ways besides stitching, or are only partially attached, like the strap on the bootie above.

Acne

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Martin Margiela Diego Vanassibara

blocks Shoes are divided in clear blocks, both through construction, material and colour. Fastenings are omitted or not used, like on the Rick Owens boot.

Alexander Wang

Rick Owens

Vic Matie

Kris van Assche

Roderick Pieters

Anne Thorbjornsen

Ryusaku Hiruma

Vic Matie

craft Even though the overall look is very modern, this story has a hand crafted streak, using vegetan leathers and minimal constructions in shoes with a hand crafted feel. For instance, we find new kinds of geometric ‘patchwork’, either using the panels of the shoe or by adding bold hardware.

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colour and material

Materials are natural and of high quality, whether these are leather or textile. The booties on this page show what we mean by ‘high quality’, yet we realize this level is not attainable for every brand. To emphasize the modern flavour we also find contrasts of high-tech and natural materials. Colours are natural and monochrome

Rag and Bone

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Pedro Garcia

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contrast Vans & Taka Hayashi

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Colour and material can be applied in bi-colour or matte/shine contrasts, for instance using straps. Of course you can also make these detachable.

mono

Mr. Hare

Kop & Staart

Alexander Wang

Yifang Wan

Yet in general the shoes in this story are rather monochrome, using one colour for both upper and sole, or applying materials that have the same shade but a different texture, The trend in gradient colours continues, especially to create a ‘wet look’, applying a darker and/or shiny finish to one part of the shoe.

Acne

Acne

Vic Matie

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Louise Gray

Jeremy Scott

Bernhard Wilhelm

miss match mish mash

This story has its roots in youth subculture, showing both deep frustration and hope for a better future. It looks like a multitude of styles are mixed randomly, yet if you look closely, you will recognize the ingredients that are combined: lower class ‘bad taste’ or ‘ghetto’ elements (leopard prints, shiny glittery fabrics), nineties flavour (when this generation was born), ethnic looks (inspired by the many immigrants in cities), warrior elements (Roman soldiers and crusaders) and neo-hippie flavours (since this is a left wing movement). You could consider this trend a new kind of punk, fighting those who are in power, yet using modern means, such as social media, and celebrating cultural diversity. So even though the overall look is rather aggressive, it is not dark at all.

Ashish

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Kobi Levi

shape This story shows a multitude of influences, yet a sense of humour is essential for all of them, which is why we picked these pumps by Kobi Levi as an introduction. Furthermore they symbolize the fact that we indeed find styles with a figurative (heel) shape, although these might not be for everybody. On the next pages you will also see how exaggerating volume is essential, whether it concerns sexy high-heeled platforms or thick creeper styles. Kobi Levi

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thick Lola Ramona

Since this look can be considered a new kind of punk it is not surprising that we find styles from the punk age, yet translated in a much more psychedelic way, adding colour either in the upper and/or sole. The use of EVA allows the volume to be exaggerated.

Philipp Schuller

Studio Rain

Laura Gostling Manish Arora

Pam Hogg

Fam Irvoll

Fam Irvoll

RHLS

surreal Hoon Chung

Elin Melin

The use of weird last shapes and outrageous (covered) platforms leads to a surreal look that is often still sexy though, due to the enormous height of the heel.

Studio Rain

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con struc tion

Garrigosa Studio

We chose these ‘crashed’ shoes to talk about constructions, because we either find styles that look like they were ‘patched up’ or that are so studded you could easily hurt others with them, although they are not designed for that. Because again, these images also show the sense of humour that is required, so even if you decide to make a shoe look highly aggressive, there should be some element that counters that and brings a smile to a consumer’s face...

Garrigosa Studio

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studded We find an abundance of studs, nails, and spikes, yet these are often used on styles where you don’t expect them, like classic loafers. The idea is to create a look that is both funny, tacky and sometimes slightly futuristic.

Osborn

Jenny Postlt

Jenny Postlt

Mini Market

patchwork We find a creative use of patchwork for the upper, either using a mish mash of materials or creating figurative decoration, Be careful though to not create a look that is too ‘granola’...

Jan Jansen Jeffrey Campbell

Hego’s

Thom Browne

Jeffrey Campbell

Hego’s

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colour and material

Taylor Says

For this story your options for both colour and material are endless, in fact, the whole idea is that you do NOT choose any single colour or material, but juxtapose several. For materials this leads to combinations of both prints and textures and for colours it means that you basically mix all of them, but stay away from black, unless it is combined with more colourful shades.

Taylor Says

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Avantin Dietro

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Junya Watanabe

Dr. Martens

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18-4043 TPX Ashish

colourful

Underground for Mugler

Taylor Says

When it comes to colours, we have only one advice: knock yourself out! And remember that multi-colour shoes combine with lots of outfits in the same way that black shoes do!

Beverly Feldman

Hego’s

tacky fun

Le CLÇ

Jeremy Scott

The purpose for materials is to create something that is so tacky that it becomes funny. This means you either ‘miss match’ materials and prints or use a material that you would normally never apply to such a style, like the lurex fabric on the hiker boot.

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the best in folded footwear On the next pages you find the catalogue of the exhibition “The Future (Un) folds” which we made for the GDS show in Düsseldorf in March 2012. The idea came to mind as soon as we knew that this would be the venue where we would unfold our plans for the future and present SLEM to the public for the first time. Not only was the principle of folding an appropriate metaphor for the occasion, it also represents what SLEM stands for: combining old and new knowledge to help create a better future for the footwear business.

Since SLEM supports young footwear designers and students, many of the designs presented belong to recent graduation projects or experimental collections, yet we also feature mass-made commercial items. We feel that together these represent the best in folded footwear and prove that folding is both an inspirational and functional idea for all segments of the footwear business, “The Future (Un)folds” was made in collaboration with the Virtual Shoe Museum, an online footwear museum specialized in experimental shoes and one of the partners of SLEM, together with the Dutch Shoe and Leather Museum. We would like to thank them, GDS and the designers who took part for their support. This exhibition is only the first of many more SLEM exhibitions to come, We welcome any comments and input for future subjects at: slem.waalwijk@gmail.com.

shoe by Beatriz Espinosa Garcia

After all, folding was the way our primeval ancestors made shoes, yet ironically, but certainly not coincidentally, we find that it is getting a second wind today, through the use of innovative materials and sustainable constructions. These give a whole new perspective on the use of folding, so we decided to look at the subject from various angles and collected a great variety of shoes. Almost all of these designs were actually shown at GDS, yet we also added a few that are very directional but unfortunately were not available to be presented in Germany at the time.

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1. wrapping The shoe shown on the left is the oldest leather shoe in the world: it is 5500 years old and was found in 2010 in a cave in Armenia by a group of archeologists. As you can see it is only one piece of naturally tanned leather that was wrapped around the foot and held together by leather laces. Both the construction and the material are still the base of many shoes today, from traditional moccasins to sandals. Modern means, such as strong kinds of glue, allow for more variety in wrapping and pleating vegetan leather, like the shoe below by Belgian designer Anne Poesen. However, we also find many designers staying as close as possible to the primeval construction in order to omit any toxic elements and create a product that is as sustainable as possible.

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andreas pijlman

For his graduation project called ‘FlipFolds’, made for arts academy Artez in Arnhem, The Netherlands, designer Andreas Pijlman was inspired by ethnic sandals from various parts of the world. Just like the primitive shoe on the previous page, his vegetan sandals also consist of only one piece of leather, yet he uses modern technology to create cleaner and more complex patterns than are possible to make by hand, His patterns are laser cut and laser etched and can then simply be folded and stitched together, using hardly any glue. The resulting sandals are modern and stylish, yet the unfolded patterns are also beautiful as such and provide a great way of making an average consumer understand how a shoe can be made in a more sustainable way. 87


Wrapping, scrolling and folding are the key words for Susanna Battistutto’s collection Winding Volutes, which she made during her second year at the IUAV University in Venice, where she is currently finishing her 5-years graduate degree programme in Fashion Design and Theories. Starting from a flat surface, she set out to create three-dimensional shapes, taking inspiration from both nature and art. By moulding complex patterns the surface becomes a volume when curved, folded and wrapped on itself, emphasizing the essential role of movements, instead of cutting or sewing. All parts were glued together around a curved metal sheet, enabling the shoes to carry the weight of the wearer. Apart from shoes the collection also contains bags, belts and bracelets that are made using the same principle.

susanna battis tutto

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manami saito

Manami Saito’s Japanese roots are clearly reflected in her collection of folded black leather shoes, made for her graduation at Artez in Arnhem. The Netherlands. Her collection consists of two groups: one with organically shaped outsoles of thick vegetan leather that was folded to create an open wedge and one with very geometric sandals, reminding of the traditional Japanese geta. For this group the leather was wrapped around a metal core to make sure the open heel can support the weight of the wearer and maintain its geometric shape. Saito started her project by folding shoes from black paper until she found the right shapes to reproduce in leather.

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roderick pieters This shoe called Armadillo shows how the simple principle of wrapping strips of leather around a last can lead to a very wearable and not to mention beautiful shoe. For designer Roderick Pieters it was actually his first shoe as a result of a shoe design workshop at Artez in Arnhem, The Netherlands, where he graduated in footwear design in 2011. The search for alternative shoe constructions led to this surprising shape and functionality. The strips create a new lacing system and keep the upper from wrinkling. It was chosen as the best shoe of the workshop by Floris van Bommel and was exhibited in Milan at Salone Internazionale del Mobile in 2009

boris hoppek These cardboard sneakers apply the same principle as the ones on the opposite page, yet using cardboard. These are some of the earlier works of renowned German graffiti artist Boris Hoppek; we found them a few years ago at the Pictoplasma festival in Berlin. He wrapped strips of cardboard around an existing shoe and glued a cardboard sole underneath it, thus creating a ‘canvas’ for his graphics. We feel it would be a nice idea if all shoes could come with replaceable shoe covers that you can draw on, allowing the wearer to keep changing the ‘facade’ of the shoe without having to throw the interior away. Cardboard is not functional for actual use, of course, yet there must be other alternatives.

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2. geometry & abstraction Basically folding is geometry put into action, moving back and forth between a 2D and 3D environment. Obviously, with the human body being a complex organic shape and most foldable materials being fairly stiff, folded shoes usually have a much more abstract silhouette than the actual foot they are covering. That is not just a challenge, but also part of the attraction of making folded footwear, This is reflected in the designs on the next pages and in the Inemotion project by young Brazilian designer Andreia Chaves, featured on this page, which she made for her master’s degree in shoe design at Polimoda in Florence, Italy. She was inspired by the motion of the human body and wanted to capture that in shoes, resulting in the use of semi-transparent material folded around a solid core. Chaves currently has a showroom in Milan where she sells her conceptual shoes that always involve innovative materials and technologies, We expect her to be one of the most directional designers for the future.

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tea petrovic

Art and architecture are big influences for footwear. Tea Petrovic, for instance, chose the sculptures of Naum Gabo and the architecture of Santiago Calatrava as the main inspiration for her graduation collection at the Academy of Fine Arts in Sarajevo. The collection consists of ten paper prototypes, which can be divided into three groups: architectural, linear constructions and wings/variations. The first group was inspired by Calatrava’s architecture, the second by Naum Gabo’s sculptures, while the third is a fusion of the first two. When it comes to shape, the focus is on sharp geometrical lines, fused with lightness and soft organic shapes. The heel is the starting point for each shoe, as it is the most architectural and sculptural element of a shoe.

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To those in the know, the first name that comes to mind when thinking of folded footwear is Marloes ten Bhรถmer, a Dutch footwear designer based in London. Her works question our perception of functionality, fusing art and technology to create an origami-like production, working with materials ranging from wood to polyurethane resin, tarpaulin, steel and fibreglass. This architectural Beigefoldedshoe is made out of one piece of vegetan leather folded around a stainless steel heel. The shoe took two years of engineering in order to make it functional, comfortable and wearable and is currently available through her website.

marloes ten bhรถmer

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marloes ten bhömer

In her works Ten Bhömer questions why shoes have changed so little over the past centuries, exploring methods of construction that are known from other products, such as vacuum forming. This Pressedleathershoe is made from only three parts, using a leather processing technique in which leather is soaked in water and pressed in between a two-part mould, forming it into a three-dimensional shape. The leather parts are then dried, cut and assembled into one shoe, embedding the structure that gives the shoe it’s strength.

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anna korshun

With her graduation collection for Artez in Arnhem, The Netherlands, made in 2010, Anna Korshun shows that stitching is not necessary to make shoes. Instead, she adopted vacuum-forming, a technique normally used for furniture making, This allows them to be made in one go from only one or two pieces of leather. Several of the prototypes were made by Camper.

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winde rienstra Folding is essential for the work of Dutch clothing designer Winde Rienstra, who is constantly experimenting with new materials and innovative ways of folding to make her intriguing clothes that are on the verge between art and fashion, For her collection for autumn/winter 2012 she made these architectural wedge heels entirely from cardboard. They are the result of a laborious process, meticulously cutting and pasting pieces of cardboard, mimicking the process of 3D printing by hand.

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3. origami When thinking of folding, the Japanese art of origami is one of the first things that comes to mind. It has been an inspiration for footwear designers for many years, yet often the technique had to be translated to other materials besides paper, in order to make the shoes wearable. However, for a project exploring the capabilities of paper at the Emily Carr University of Art + Design in Vancouver, Canada, design student Cindy Chen managed to prove that two sheets of bristol board of 11 by 17 inches each could support the weight of the human body. For this she used an intricate kind of origami, creating a flexible yet firm construction.

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le creative sweatshop Le Creative Sweatshop is the result of the encounter between Mathieu Missiaen of studio Ndeur and Julien Morin of Make a Paper World in January 2009: a conceptual agency based on modern communication means and mediums, through the lense of the DIY culture, working on volume and space scenography. Both men are greatly inspired by geometry and their combined experience in customizing shoes (Mathieu Missiaen) and making paper art works (Julien Morin) led to these conceptual origami pumps. They are not wearable, yet merely meant for presentation purposes.

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catherine meuter

This origami shoe concept called «EIN/TRITT» landed Swiss designer Catherine Meuter a seasonal assistant job at both Nicholas Kirkwood and concept designer Marloes ten Bhömer. «EIN/TRITT» combines traditional shoe production with modern manufacturing, which results in a considerable simplification of the production flow. Flat shoe patterns with reinforced parts get folded and fixed. The client experiences the transformation of the shoe from its initial flat state into a comfortable wearable object. Meuter currently works as a men’s shoe designer for Giorgio Armani in Milan.

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4. packable & pop-up Transforming a 2D surface into a 3D object can not only lead to new shapes and constructions, as we have seen on the previous pages, yet it also has other advantages. For instance, we find designers creating highly practical shoes that are packable and easy to transport or travel with. Or we find paper representations of actual shoes, which say more than just a ‘flat’ photograph. Israeli brand CoupleOf for example, had an architect make pop-up versions of one of their designs. In her recent book Shoe Love, Jessica Jones included several pop-up shoes, explaining both the history of shoes and current novelties.

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studio lo French design studio Lo created these simple yet cute ‘Pod’ house slippers from one layer of felt. The corners of the pattern slot into each other and the pressure of the foot keeps them shut tightly. We also appreciate the original plastic pouch which allows them to be presented well and easily be shipped in an envelope.

This Pop-Up Slipper by Japanese studio Genta Design is meant for travelling. They come in a flat pouch that you can easily tuck away in your hand luggage. When you want to be comfortable on an airplane you can take off your shoes and quickly transform the flat soles into a wearable slipper by folding up the incisions on either side and clicking them together to create a strap.

genta design

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united nude Spanish performance-artist Alicia Framis invited footwear brand United Nude to make a shoe design for her “Moon Life� project, which is about space travel and the speculation of future living in space. The outcome is the United Nude Flat Pack shoe: a high-heeled fashionable shoe that customers can assemble themselves, while the uppers of the shoes are interchangeable and suitable for customizing. The base of the shoe is built from flat carbon fibre pieces, molded foot-bed pieces and 3-dimensional sole pieces that simply slot into each other. These parts are all adjoined by a thin wire span on the sides. The upper of the shoe is a lace with 2 leather pieces. According to United Nude the assembly should take no longer than 10 minutes for each shoe. However, we do wonder if having separate parts is practical when they start levitating in space...? UN is currently working on creating a commercial limited edition of the Moon Life Flat Pack shoe.

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couple of

Shelly and Elon Satat Kombor - husband and wife and the designers behind CoupleOf - often use a very hands-on approach to developing their shoes, starting from experimental hand crafted prototypes and then translating these into wearable commercial styles. Recently they asked artist and architect Nadav Bignitz to create real size pop-up paper versions of their ‘Lily’ laced shoe. Apart from this being a very original way to promote their shoes, it also reflects their approach to design.

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5. recycling Making shoes through folding can also lead to more sustainable designs. On the previous pages we already featured several concepts that are easy to disassemble or largely diminish the need for adhesives. Yet the material used for folding can also improve sustainability. For instance, we find designers recycling cardboard or paper, such as Mark O’Brien’s shoes made out of the packaging of six packs of beer and Peter Jakubik’s brown paper bag shoe. Both of these ideas are conceptual and not wearable, yet on the next page we will also feature a commercial example of this same principle.

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galit begas Israeli designer Galit Begas’s Foot Prints shoe collection is made of used plastic bags from everywhere; the plastic is draped, pulled and formed over various shoetrees and then undergoes a heating process. According to Begas the shoes are wearable, yet we would suggest to add an outsole to make them better suitable for outdoor use. With this collection Begas won the prestigious Designboom competition in 2011.

With both the price of leather and the need for sustainable products increasing, we find brands turning to new alternatives such as Tyvek, a synthetic paper that is used for Fedex envelopes, for instance. For The Future (Un)Folds we chose this example by German brand Nat-2, since it not only uses Tyvek, but the shoes as such are also foldable. These ballerina’s fold up into a small package that can fit in any handbag. Tyvek is strong enough to wear, since you it won’t tear unless you cut it with a knife or scissors. Furthermore, it is lightweight, breathable and water resistant. It can be recycled, yet that does require a special process.

nat-2

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6. folding polygons With new computer technologies the concept of folding migrates to the digital world: 3D design software allows for new kinds of folding using complex curves and polygons. On the next pages we are showing some more futuristic kinds of folded footwear, which each apply computer technology. Innovative techniques and materials are often combined with traditional ones in order to make the shoes comfortable, yet technological progression will certainly make it possible to eventually produce fully functional shoes in one go, using 3D design software and a 3D printing device. This design by Marloes ten Bhรถmer gives a glimpse of what is in store for the future of footwear. Her Rapidprototypedshoe is made using an additive manufacturing technology in which successive layers of a photopolymer material are UV cured. The shoe is built in one go, but is comprised of two materials, which are organised into different microscopic structures, thereby enabling different material properties. As a result, the shoe has both flexible and rigid sections. The shoe has been designed to be disassembled for the purpose of replacing parts, despite having never been assembled in the first place. As the price of such advanced 3D printers than can seamlessly merge materials with different densities and properties decreases, we will find more commercial translations suitable for the mass market. Currently 3D printing is mainly used to create prototypes of shoes made trough 3D design, like most of the projects featured on the following pages.

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asher levine For his Autumn/Winter 2012 collection New York based menswear designer Asher Levine imagines a futurist society characterized by a strong military presence. The world that he conceptualizes provides a fertile ground for his imagination to run wild and his designs to take shape. The futuristic military influence is reflected in his footwear as well, featuring uppers that are partly ‘folded’ from synthetic shells and spikes inspired by body armour. On these pages we feature a few more conceptual designs, yet his collection also contains some more wearable varieties, applying the synthetic armour to biker boots.

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This “Strike Shoe Concept” is a graduation project for Design Academy Eindhoven made by South-African designer Jean-Pierre Melville back in 2006. Due to his background as an avid runner and his part-time job selling sports performance footwear, he was both experienced in and fascinated by foot biomechanics. Further analysis of biomechanics enabled him to create a form language based around the “initial strike”, which is the first contact the foot makes with the ground while walking or running. By applying penrose tiling he translated the direction of the gait of the foot and the force of the initial strike into a complex 2D grid, which is folded around the last, creating the layout of form across the shoe. Utilising 3D modelling software and shoe making techniques it was possible to create a unity between the human foot and this two dimensional grid. On the functional side this shoe is intended for free running; EVA particles of different densities can be clicked into the outsole grid, so all foot type demands can be met within one shoe. As a result this is a shoe that literally has energy frozen within it.

jean pierre melville

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beatriz espinosa garcia

For her graduation from Polimoda in Florence, Italy, Spanish designer Beatriz Espinosa Garcia was inspired by both architecture and the reflection of light, designing shoes that look like prisms for feet, using complex patterns of glass-like particles, All designs are mirrored around a central axis. Her initial ideas were created by hand: cutting, folding and pasting cardboard polygons, yet these were then reproduced using 3D design software. The program literally reflected her ideas, for instance allowing for a ‘mirrored pump’ that you can slip on from either side. Some of the models are still prototypes made of thin plywood, yet the stunning mirrored pump is an actual shoe. The production of the shoes was made possible by Brickell engineering and heel manufacturer Zanzani.

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victoria spruce

Shoe designer Victoria Spruce recently graduated from London’s Royal College of Art with this collection inspired by organic ceramic sculptures which she happened to stumble upon. What attracted her in those were the continuous curves. Sketching on paper wrapped around the foot she wondered why the heel should be separate from the upper and decided to have it interact with that, evolving around the foot. The final shoes combine 3D printing with traditional leather uppers, creating a contrast between the rigid shiny heels and the soft matte leather.

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julian hakes With his Mojito Shoe, architect Julian Hakes shows how other disciplines can greatly contribute to the design of footwear. When Hakes wanted to explore how new materials and design techniques could provide new solutions for the evolution of a sandal into a shoe, he took the same approach as when he would design a bridge. He set out to express the forces at play in the most simple, poetic and elegant way possible for the materials used. He came to the organic lines of the design by drawing on tracing paper taped around his foot, yet he then constructed the actual shoe using a leather laminated carbon fiber core. The idea would not have existed without the ‘old fashioned’ way of designing, yet it would not have been possible to make without the use of innovative materials like carbon fiber.

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index (in order of appearance) Andreas Pijlman www.andreaspijlman.nl

Winde Rienstra www.winderienstra.com

Mark O’Brien www.mark-obrien.co.uk

Susanna Battistutto www.naheve.altervista.org

Cindy Chen www.ecuad.ca/people/ work/40773

Galit Begas www.gbpuredesign.com

Manami Saito proefdesigns.com

Le Creative Sweatshop www.lecreativesweatshop.com

Roderick Pieters www.roderickpieters.com Boris Hoppek www.borishoppek.de

Catherine Meuter www.catherinemeuter.ch CoupleOf www.coupleof.co.il

Andreia Chavez www.andreiachaves.com Tea Petrovic teapetrovic.wordpress.com Marloes ten Bhömer marloestenbhomer.squarespace.com Anna Korshun annakorshun.com

Jessia Jones - Shoe Love www.thunderbaybooks.com Genta Design www.gentadesign.com Studio Lo www.studiolodesign.fr

Nat-2 www.nat-2.eu Asher Levine www.asherlevine.com Jean-Pierre Melville www.jpmelville.com Beatriz Espinosa Garcia b.espinosagarcia@gmail.com Victoria Spruce www.victoriaspruce.com Julian Hakes www.hakes.co.uk

United Nude www.unitednude.com Peter Jakubik www.peter-jakubik.com

www.slem-waalwijk.blogspot.com slem.waalwijk@gmail.com

Pang Tian’s shoes inspired by foldable chairs, made for Polimoda, Florence, Italy

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