Ever wanted to design your own shoes?
I'm making a limited run of designer ready-to-wear shoes (based on a standard 2-3 inch high heel), completely open to crowd-sourced design. You not only contribute to the design of the shoes, but get to make all of the decisions - and if you love them, you'll be able to buy a pair. 

The most recent update is posted just below. Keep scrolling to see older content!

UPDATE #3. Colours!!
I’ve struggled with looking into colour options a whole lot more than I had anticipated. What seemed like the easiest of tasks, has proven to be a little more fraught with difficulty than I had anticipated. It turns out to be difficult to access official fashion industry trend information - unless you have thousands of dollars to spend - I guess large fashion designers can well afford it! It’s all good learning I guess.

So, a lot of this information has been collated from various internet sources, fashion blogs, and a very helpful report that Pantone (the international colour experts). It helps that on this side of the world, our seasons run behind US and Europe!

The task for you... read through this post, and then click here for the survey to indicate your preferences (another link will appear at the end)

What can i say about colours without sounding like I’ve joined some kind of contrived fashion marketing body? Probably not very much - but here we go in the closest to plain english I can manage…

Soothing and calmness are two words that are being used a lot, and what looks like thesaurus.com has also contributed terms for the season like friendly, warmth, respite, etc etc. All of it meaning generally quite soft colours, with pretty names. In the tradition of fashion though, there are a few contrasts thrown in there too.

In choosing a number of colours to present as options, I’ve used a few principles to guide me.

1. I wasn’t keen to make a plain or particularly neutral shoe. The good news is that a big majority of survey responses agreed - people are looking for something that stands out a little more.
   
2. I wanted to choose shoes that could be worn dressed-up, as well as dressed-down with a pair of jeans.
   
3. I wanted colours that would work well with what we see being worn in everyday work environments - a good looking shoe that politely says “Hello!”.
4. I’m showing you with clothes as it’s easier to get an impression of how you feel about the colour - not suggesting you need to colour match the shoes with a new wardrobe!!

And so. The colours that I’m putting forward for crowd-sourced footwear design, and for you to choose for our shoe, are… 

Rose Quartz
A persuasive yet gentle tone that conveys compassion and a sense of composure. Like a serene sunset, flushed cheek or budding flower, Rose Quartz reminds us to reflect on our surroundings during the busy but lighthearted spring and summer months.

Buttercup
While the majority of the Spring/Summer palette trends toward calmness, a few diversions from the theme emerge that offer a contrast. With Buttercup, designers reveal a shining beacon transporting its wearer to a happier, sunnier place.

Limpet shell
A shade of aqua that leans toward the green family, Limpet Shell is clear, clean and defined. Suggestive of clarity and freshness, its crisp and modern influences evoke a deliberate, mindful tranquility.

Indigo
Indigo - the colour that changed the world. It makes you sit up and take notice, and is a royal yet vibrant colour to embrace summer with. Welcome the charm with indigo.

Deep Teal
Deep Teal, a strong, blue-toned green, suggests ocean depths and the color of the sky as daylight descends into darkness - it has its own magic, an underwater color that speaks of greens and blues mixed beautifully.

Click here for the survey, for you to chose what colour we'll be going with!

UPDATE #2. It's a Mary Jane!
The survey results were really interesting reading (maybe I'm a data geek), and provided a lot of insight - thanks to everyone that responded!

There are two main take-outs for me from the survey:

1. As you will have seen - top billing is a classic medium-height heel, as a Mary Jane. 
   
2. Given the popularity of the next two options, I’m thinking I might use a similar process and pencil in a couple of follow-up ranges – lace-ups for Autumn 2017, and peep toe wedges for Spring 2017. All depending on how this goes!
   

Now that we have a shoe defined then, it's time for a draft design...

Note - that's *not* the heel! It's a just a small block of foam to get the shoe sitting at the correct height! A fuller heel design is coming soon.

Thoughts & feedback!
Now that we have a draft design, it would be great to get your feedback, to help me refine things into a final model. How can you do that? It's simple - take two minutes to answer a couple of questions here. Make sure you enter your email address so I can keep tracking your discount!

And then what??
NEXT. Colour is obviously pretty important to what we'll end up with. 1000 apologies to anyone wanting anything very safe in black or brown – people indicated in the survey that something 'special' was a higher priority.   And that’s probably the best outtake for me from the survey – I don’t really want to make something that looks immediately like every other pair of shoes out there. 

So, the next set of questions will have us working through colour options, single/multiple, complementary/contrast, and so on. Defining our colourway will allow me to set the leather that we’ll go with, and get it ordered in. This is the very last thing I need to do in order to price the shoes up.


THEN. Comfort was rated most highly, so we’ll be going for a slightly lower (2 to 2.5 inch), and slightly more substantial heel - as opposed to a skyscraper stiletto. We’ll be sorting out:

• the exact heel shape, taper and profile
• contrast, complimentary, or matching covering

I'm actually making the heel units as well. More info about all that later on! 


AND INTO MANUFACTURE! Well, manufacture has already started, and will get fully underway as we move through the final questions above.

• I’ve already started making all of the insoles for the shoes. As I get close to completing them, I'll show you what's involved - I've already completed a small number, and they are coming up amazing! 
• Once we get through these next style questions to refine and land the design, I can work through patternmaking and grading the patterns for the range of sizes in the whole run.
• When we land the style of the heel, I can get underway on making them while the leather is on order.
• And then you’ll really see things start to happen – cutting, skiving, assembly, sewing, lasting, soling, heels, and finishing!

UPDATE #1. The survey results!
It’s time to bring the really broad design phase to a close and report back on what we’re looking at. So, here’s a summary of what everyone’s said about a preferred shoe!

Mary-Janes win the day, and most people liking the style also went for a classic court shoe (or pump), which means there’s a nice crossover between the two styles, with most people favouring the MJ

The next biggest relationship between two options was for a peep-toe wedge

There was also a large preference for lace-ups.

And on the less keen side of the ledger...

• Most people aren’t into the idea of toe cleavage.
  
• I’m definitely *not* making a large platform.
  

OVERVIEW. 
What does crowd-sourced shoe design mean exactly?

• Basically, I turn the entire design of a shoe over to the wider public - in this case, a pair of 2.5 to 3 inch high heels.  It's basically a very limited release designer shoe - with the twist that you get to play designer! 
• I'll guide the process and keep it within the boundaries that I can manufacture to, I'll make all of the shoes personally by hand, and then make them available to purchase.

• The design will be made up in US half-sizes 6 through 10, in either a regular or narrow width. There will be only one pair of each half-size/width - so it's pretty exclusive! 

The very first step in the process
Basically, to be able to land on an initial design, I need some help to understand quite broadly what you as a shoe designer think and prefer - so there's an initial survey you can take here - to provide a few starting ideas.

• Once I have a good number of survey responses to outline likes & dislikes, loves, and other preferences, I'll run a set of snappy single question surveys to tie-down specific design options (e.g. the style/shape of the heel, colour palette, etc).
• All of the survey feedback will be combined into an overall design. I'll also look to see if there are any obvious close seconds, and present a final draft design or two for voting.
• I'll then announce a final design, with details on the likely time frame to manufacture and dispatch.

You'll see regular progress updates right through the design process until we land the final design, and then through the entire manufacture process as I work through everything. You'll see me making patterns and grading them for the full range of sizes, cutting/gluing/sewing the uppers, constructing the insoles, lasting the uppers, soling, and finally finishing and detailing. 

Here's the link to the survey again

Some questions you might have...
Q. Why are you doing this?
A. I'm undertaking this project for a bunch of reasons:

1. I'm used to making one or two pairs of shoes at a time, so this process helps me learn where economies of scale exist within the design, patternmaking, and production processes of shoemaking.  
2. It provides me with an opportunity to gauge interest in locally made-by-hand designer shoes.
3. It provides some money so I can purchase a library of shoe lasts - for further production runs in other styles.
4. My professional skills and experience when I'm not making shoes, are right across marketing and CX design, operations management, and process design & improvement - so this exercise also helps with my own ongoing professional development.

Q. How much are they likely to cost me?
A1. It's really impossible to commit to a price until we've finished design. As a rule though, because these will be made ready to wear, and because I'm expecting some economy out of making 40 pairs at once,  I'm expecting a number considerably cheaper than having a pair of shoes individually custom-made. 
A2. I'm based in Wellington, New Zealand - so $NZD will be the currency of choice for this campaign (the good news, is that if you live somewhere else, the price is likely to be lower when converted to your local currency).
A3. I'm happy to deliver in person around the Wellington area, or you can pick up if you'd like to check out my workshop and have a chat. Otherwise, postage will be included for the rest of NZ, and to be quoted/added for the rest of the world. 

Q. What if I really want to do this, but have wide feet?
A. If you're happy to commit up-front to buying a pair, I can modify the shoe lasts to accommodate a wider-fitting foot (within certain limits), or to take the length out to a US size 12. Send me an email to talk about it.

Q. Do I get a discount for how much I contribute to the process?
A. You surely do - I'll be providing a 1% discount for every survey response you give me (one per email address) up to a maximum of 10% off the final price. If you share/like any Facebook post about the crowd-sourced design process, I'll give you another 1% off up to a maximum of 10%. 

Q. What if there's a run on these awesome yet-to-be-designed shoes!? Can I put my name down up-front to reserve a pair?
A. Sure. A $50 non-refundable deposit will reserve your very own pair. 

Q. Can I pass my discount onto someone else?
A. Yes. But the same maximum limits will apply (i.e. they can only have your discounts transferred up to their own maximum level). If you've made a deposit, you can also transfer this over to another person.

Q. What if they don't fit?
A. Don't stress. I'm making these in US sizing, but as you'll probably know, that's reasonably easily converted over to all other sizing systems. I'll be providing measuring instructions in a video later on in the process to make sure we get the fit just right. 

Q. What about keeping them in a good state of repair?
A. Any decent shoe repair shop will be able to re-sole and put new top lifts (the heel cap) on the shoes. Otherwise, I'll provide care instructions along with the final shoes.

Q. Why aren't you using something like Kickstarter for this?
A. For a few reasons. I'm a massive supporter of crowdfunding campaigns through the likes of Kickstarter & Indiegogo, but sometimes I feel like they could work better for certain types of product. I wanted to start with a more open and transparent process, so that people could become involved without feeling like they were having to commit to purchase up-front (and then worry about what they would get for their money). 

Plus a bunch of other reasons too, all of which basically means that I'm choosing to run this completely solo rather than using a platform - to involve and engage first, show the whole process to build confidence and engagement, and allow purchase where it feels most natural to the user.

The company that I think is doing it best, is Betabrand - they make it easy to engage as a designer (if you want to), and as a buyer if you don't. They strike a really nice, genuine tone, and execute it very effectively. They have awesome product and service, and they reach out to their customers just right.