I do occasionally get asked about these but they tend to be thin on the ground. Sneaker designers tend to come from an ID background, which means they are as likely to be able to design phones, but that also means that they may not understand much about footwear construction.
Students on footwear courses have to learn pattern cutting and making, but their courses tend to focus on traditional footwear and may only briefly touch on sneaker design.
So I was interested to hear that Parsons School of Design has introduced the Pensole Program - a four week course specifically in sneaker design and tutored by a Nike designer.
The great thing about this course is that in order to get a place you are judged on your talents as a shoe designer and not on the traditional qualifications.
I hope we will see some exciting new talent and some amazing new shoe designers emerging from this innovative program.
You may not be able to view this link as it requires a subscription to the USA magazine Footwear News, but you can always message me if you want to know more.
Picture courtesy of Footwear News
