Adidas x Pensole

Pensole is a footwear design academy founded by D’wayne Edwards and located in Portland Oregon. I had the opportunity to attend the Pensole Fall 2019 Design Intensive for nine weeks. We were divided into different projects and I was on the Adidas design team as a 2D footwear designer. While we were a team and bounced ideas off each other, we all produced individual problems to solve.

For my project, I designed a pair of shoes for the Adidas Originals brand that expands to help fit people with wider and flatter feet. I began by focusing on the design and functionality of the outsole. From there I was able to build the upper with elements that would assist in the expanding and putting on of the shoe. My concept featured a ribbed rubber outsole similar to how an umbrella opens with flexible metal ribs. A tongue that wraps over the upper along with side elastic lacing helps make putting the shoe on easier. I collaborated with MLAB (materials laboratory at Pensole) to select materials that assist in flexibility where the shoe expands, and rigidity where support is required. I then modeled the outsole in Rhino and had it 3D printed in a flexible TPU filament to test the functionality and see if adjustments were needed. The TPU print was cemented to an upper prototype to create the final model.