{"id":396435,"date":"2014-08-01T11:50:38","date_gmt":"2014-08-01T16:50:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.snkrsday.com\/?p=396435"},"modified":"2022-09-16T22:31:16","modified_gmt":"2022-09-17T03:31:16","slug":"pensole-world-sneaker-championship-diaries-day-9","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.snkrsday.com\/pensole-world-sneaker-championship-diaries-day-9\/","title":{"rendered":"PENSOLE World Sneaker Championship Diaries: Day 9"},"content":{"rendered":"
This summer, 30 young students from all the around the world have come together in Portland, Oregon, determined to change the footwear game by embarking in the PENSOLE World Sneaker Championship. Assigned to teams and representing a diverse range of brands, boutiques and major corporations across the industry, they’ve began their journey to design a product that’s ready for retail. These are their stories.<\/em><\/p>\n Roster:<\/strong> Dexter Sulit, Claudia Lopez, Daniel Raes and Marcus Taylor (CMF)<\/p>\n With every day I get a little more tired but never any less motivated. I stay late and show up early just to make use of every minute at Pensole. I wake up, have some coffee, and no matter if I drop my toast or spill hot coffee on myself, I am still optimistic about the great day ahead. Sometimes I forget to eat because I have too many ideas I need to sketch. There\u2019s a saying that you have to want to succeed as bad as you want to breathe. That is relevant for every student that puts in the work to get into WSC and have been working 17 hour days to make their dream a reality. <\/p>\n Here\u2019s a preview of Dexter\u2019s sand running shoe. \n And a preview of Claudia\u2019s stair running shoe. \n And finally my evolution of city running shoe. Roster:<\/strong> Stefan Cristobal, Sese Izurieta-Herrera, Dale Shepard and Lindsey Johnson (CMF)<\/p>\n Today was our second and final day of color, material and finish bootcamp. The vendor presentation today was great. It was really beneficial going over the process of manufacturing synthetic leathers and how to best apply them to our design. What was perhaps the most interesting aspect was learning that there are nearly limitless ways to finish synthetic leathers and that they can be engineered to yield specific performance results.<\/p>\n Some of the guys comparing the color flop material from the Lebron 11 “King\u2019s Crown” with that of the Lil Penny Posites.\n After a break for lunch we had an in-depth overview of the various different types of natural leathers. However, it didn\u2019t start until two minutes of planks had to be done due to returning late (Suzette\u2019s alternative to DE\u2019s 10 pushups per late minute is a hilarious).<\/p>\n Gui was sure glad he made it back in time after lunch.\n One of the highlights of today\u2019s class was being able to see and feel some exotic hide samples. Unfortunately, we won\u2019t be seeing these materials in any upcoming drops.<\/p>\n Genuine samples of Tiger, Zebra and my Pensole notes.\n Tomorrow is a big a day as we are having over a dozen people from the footwear industry come through for our first critique. I am excited and a bit anxious – so I stayed up all night sketching and refining my brief. As I\u2019m writing this daily recap, its nearly 5:30 AM; I am going to try to catch a quick nap before I head back to class.<\/p>\n .Stefan Cristobal <\/p>\n Roster:<\/strong> Elizabeth Steenwyk, Maher Jemili, Guy Perez and Tuan Nguyen (CMF)<\/p>\n It\u2019s getting a little crazy in studio these days. More people are staying late and nodding off in their chairs when the lights get turned off for presentations. We\u2019re discovering restaurants closer to studio so as not to waste time walking there and back. The Red Bulls in the mini fridge are disappearing at a much higher rate than they were last week. <\/p>\n I think that\u2019s why I made a detour this morning and walked down to the river to sketch before class today. I sat on the wrong rock for sketching and ended up getting splashed a little bit, but it felt so good to get a fresh perspective.<\/p>\n The rest of the day was materials education for Team Jordan (and everyone else!). Coming from a school that doesn\u2019t have a textiles class, the two days that Suzette has spent giving us a crash course has been hugely beneficial. It makes you realize how much is out in the world that you don\u2019t know\u2026<\/p>\n Like the process synthetic leather goes through before being used in your car, or on your shoes, or\u2026<\/p>\n \u2026That real leather is blue at one point during the tanning process, like this!\n \u2026Or that synthetic leather could come in pretty much every finish imaginable!\n What we do know is that Suzette likes to keep us in shape. Take it from Danny who had an unplanned ab workout to do after lunch today! Roster:<\/strong> Sara Jaramillo, Quetzal Ramos, Victoria Adesanmi and Tuan Nguyen (CMF)<\/p>\n Today we had a crash course in color, materials and finishes by the phenomenal Suzette Henry. She shared with us her processes and techniques of how to apply color and material to products. We first discussed textiles, specifically natural and synthetic fibers, as well as meshes. We also conversed on the uses of TPUs. We had the privilege of meeting Dacie Doucette, a vendor from AriaPrene, a supplier for Nike and Adidas. She shared with us the benefits of AriaPrene, a high performance non-toxic synthetic rubber that is lightweight, water-resistant and provides insulation. It was definitely valuable to become familiar with new color and material application as we continue to ideate concepts. <\/p>\n AriaPrene vendor book and how they applied it \n Sculpted perforated AriaPrene Material \u2013 how cool is that!\n I think it’s safe to say we were all pretty much amazed on how color and materials can bring a product to life! We continued to celebrate the importance of colors and materials by discussing synthetic leathers and finishes! We were fortunate enough to have Michelle, a vendor from San Fang, to educate us on synthetic leathers, non-wovens and finishes. We discussed how synthetic leathers could be modified to perform the way we want, the advantages of synthetic leathers and the processes of how synthetic leathers are produced. After seeing all these materials now I can\u2019t decide how I want to apply it to my sneaker since I am so excited from the vast array of options my CMF and I have to choose from!<\/p>\n Michelle from San Fang discussing the materials and textures from their vendor book!\n I really enjoyed today\u2019s lesson and propelled us to fully utilize our CMF as a designer and understand the significance of their role! Roster:<\/strong> Danny Chambers, Ruben Eriksson, Marcus Thomas and Thalia Meraz (CMF)<\/p>\n Today was another informative day as the designers and CMF joined together with Suzette to touch base on synthetic materials with our special guest Michelle Swenson (formerly of Nike), the material expert and synthetic specialist from San Fang, along with Dio, the team leader of the west coast brands for San Fang. Michelle was super warm and funny as she went over synthetic leather materials. Michelle went over the synthetic leather process, Substrate, RP\/emboss and color finish. She also went over the benefits of using synthetic leathers and its overall purpose \u201cThe ultimate material. The performance you need, the aesthetic you want.\u201d Both Michelle and Dio were even sweet enough to bring cupcakes for the entire class right after giving a funny cupcake analogy on the synthetic leather process. The rest of the day was spent with Suzette. The lecture was devoted to natural leathers and the entire process from beginning to end as well as different types of leathers: full grain, nubuck and suede with the emphasis on pigment and finishes. Overall today was a success! PONY team is feeling excited about continuing to explore the Material World! Danny talking to Michelle about company cultures Roster:<\/strong> Guilherme Lemes, Jesus Garate, Jared Fiorovich and Shaun Kosoy (CMF)<\/p>\n Today we continued with our colors and materials lesson. This morning we received visitors from the San Fang Chemical Industry. They introduced us into their line of materials, textures and finishes. They gave us a very complete explanation of how they make microfiber (synthetic leather). This material has a super-soft hand feel, water-proof, versatile, and the closes to genuine leather. San Fang has devoted many years to develop microfiber products, to the point where they have various applications for microfiber on different industries like mobile devices, shoes, sport\u2019s equipment, electronics and the medial industry. This material can be used for many industries, but during this visit they brought us some examples of their materials being applied on the shoe industry. The examples include shoes like the Nike Kobe 9 Elite Low, Nike Lil\u2019 Penny Posite, Nike Mercurial Victory V IC, etc. It was extremely interesting how technology has come to a position where we can see materials taking the place of genuine leather and doing an outstanding job at that. The best part about this visit was looking at all the many different textures, finishes and colors that San Fang can do with their microfibers.<\/p>\n Then later, our colors and materials instructor, Suzette Henry, gave us a lecture on real leather. This lesson included a detail explanation of how a leather tannery works. Suzette also included some of her experiences in the shoe industry. This included traveling around the world looking for great inspiration and materials for the Jordan Brand. It is inspiring to hear her stories and see how she was such a significant part of the design process at Jordan back when she worked there. She was able to make us understand how important colors and materials are just by telling us some of her experiences in the industry. <\/p>\n Now back to sketching and finishing my design story. We have an important presentation Friday, where we will be showing our final six concepts to our classmates, instructors and guests designers. <\/p>\n Ready for more Materials and Colors.\n Some of San Fang\u2019s material examples and applications.\n Suzette showing us an example of \u201cwet blue\u201d leather. Roster:<\/strong> Zia Ahmad, Clifford Charles, Andrew Parks and Lindsey Johnson (CMF)<\/p>\n I don’t know, I mean I LOVE shoes, but some of these materials we saw today were suuuper dope!<\/p>\n I\u2019m talking Foamposite materials, Jordan elephant print, color shifts and super premium leathers! The smell alone is enough to make you reconsider your profession!<\/p>\n We even had some guest speakers come in and talk to us about material constructions and introduced us to some dope new fabrics!<\/p>\n I\u2019ve got a bunch of new color ideas that are taking my design to a whole other level! Well, at least I think they will, no color yet!<\/p>\n We should have a materials meeting sometime next week so after THAAAAT maybe I\u2019ll be able to start dropping some color and materials into my shoe!<\/p>\n After the materials class, I finally got to sit down and re-organize my wall. I tell you, if you have a million sketches randomly placed all over the wall it looks like a train wreck. So, I was able to actually sit down and organize my stuff for tomorrow.<\/p>\n Oh what’s tomorrow you ask? It’s a big day! Apparently we\u2019re going to have several industry professionals come out and look at our stuff. Also, fun fact: in summer Fridays are half days at Nike. Soooo what do you do when you have a half day at Nike? You come check out the new talent at Pensole!<\/p>\n super psyched!!<\/p>\n If y’all are in the area!<\/p>\n Come by tomorrow and let us know what you think!<\/p>\n -Z <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Roster:<\/strong> Satoshi Sutoh, Jonathan Guisbert, Ako Xiang, and Set Peterson (CMF)<\/p>\n Week 2 is almost over and we\u2019re now working on refining our concepts and our design briefs. I\u2019m excited (and honestly slightly nervous) for tomorrow because there are going to be lots of brands coming in to visit and give us some tips for how to move forward with our sketches. But as I\u2019ve learned from D\u2019Wayne, one of the biggest challenges we have to face as designers is being able to take feedback and then use it in a productive way, so that\u2019s my goal tomorrow. Today, we had our second day of materials review so we learned about synthetics and leather, along with all the materials and processes that go into making a final materials package. Tonight is going to be a super long night, preparing my wall for our visitors tomorrow. \u2013 Jonathan Guisbert<\/p>\n Tomorrow will be the first round of presentation, so now I need to clarify the design direction. I have to select some sketches to show my ideas clearly. I hope everything goes well tomorrow. \u2013 Ako Xiang<\/p>\n So, we\u2019ve been studying materials the past 2 days and it\u2019s been really interesting to learn about manufacturing processes and how colors affect the emotional feel of a product. It\u2019s something I didn\u2019t really know all too well before coming to Pensole, but now I have definitely stepped up my material game. Above is a picture of two really interesting materials I looked at, Kevlar on the top and a woven, flexible carbon fiber underneath. These materials were used in aerospace construction and were amazing to feel and see what kind of properties they have. The image on the bottom actually inspired one of my concepts, while carbon fiber is out of the question for my price point, the structure gave me an interesting idea. I\u2019ll give a sneak peak of that this week! \u2013 Jonathan Guisbert<\/p>\n Following the class yesterday, we got the instruction about CMF. Today’s topic is “the usage of synthetic leather.” Two instructors working as a sportswear CMF designer talked about that. Recently, synthetic leather is the most popular material as a footwear upper, so it was an impressive opportunity for our team.<\/p>\n In the afternoon, our instructor Suzette gave us the lesson about real leather. Many kinds of samples, colors, patterns and textures gave us some inspiration about finishing our work. Until tomorrow, we have to clean up our own design brief, so I want to make this experience useful for my work. \u2013 Satoshi Sutoh<\/p>\nTEAM ADIDAS<\/h2>\n
\n<\/p>\nTeam Android Homme<\/h2>\n
\n.Portland
\n.Philippines
\n.Android Homme<\/p>\nTEAM JORDAN<\/h2>\n
\n<\/p>\nTEAM NIKE<\/h2>\n
\n<\/p>\nTEAM PONY<\/h2>\n
\n-@ThaliaMeraz<\/p>\n Michelle (San Fang) sharing the variety of release paper (RP) as well as sharing further knowledge after her presentation\n Getting familiar with release paper and the actual look and feel of synthetic leather swatches\n
\n<\/p>\nTEAM TARGET<\/h2>\n
\n<\/p>\nTEAM UNDFTD<\/h2>\n
TEAM UNDER ARMOUR<\/h2>\n