Silver Footwear, Shoes and Boots Design · 2023
Wacky Pack Interactive Footwear
by Ye Shen
- A' Design Award 2023 Silver Winner in Footwear, Shoes and Boots Design
- Awarded April 15, 2023
- CLIENT: Ye Shen
- Estimated Number of Design Views: 516,757
- Verification code FE23F805A4 · Verify this award
About Wacky Pack Interactive Footwear
Wacky Pack is a collection of shoes that explores new ways to close footwear. Each pair replaces traditional laces with an alternative fastening system, such as a shoe cover, metal snaps, or a full zipper. The closures change how each shoe is worn and allow several looks from a single pair. Veg-tanned leather in various thicknesses and custom metal hardware are used across the collection. Pattern pieces were hand cut, sewn and hand lasted. Extensive prototyping refined the proportion, the soling methods and the closure design.
Press Kit
- Unique Properties
- Wacky Pack explores the concept and possibilities of footwear closure, or traditionally speaking, "how-to-tie-a-shoe". It explores unorthodox construction and fastening method, creating unique yet diverse interactions between the shoe and the user, providing a new level of improvisation and customization for your day-to-day look.
- Tags
- Interactive Footwear, Fashion Sneakers, Alternative Closure, Shoemaking, Leather Goods
- Production Technology
- Veg-tanned leather with various thickness and metal hardware were used across the pack. All non-leather soft materials were dyed to match the cream color. The hardware selection was custom-tailored to perform the unique closures.
Each design was explored and validated through intensive prototyping to finalize the proportion, soling methods, and most importantly, closure system design.
All pattern pieces were hand cut, cemented, sewn, then assembled with metal hardwares and hand lasted, finished with various soling techniques and materials, finally sanded and finished. - Project Duration
- This Project was created in a 4-month period in Fall 2018, within a shoe-making course taught by Anne Marika Chasse at Rhode Island School of Design.
- Operation Flow
- Bao Bao: Shoe born inside a shoe cover. Wear it close, wear it open, wear it flipped.
O Snap: Turn O-snap on, snap pieces to each other. Snap None or snap all; snap some or snap one, it's up to you.
Sticky Fingers: Shoe zipped all the way around. Zip or unzip, front or back. Zip it close, hide inside; Zip it open, reveal yourself. - Research
- Gen-Z and Millennials will soon be (if not already) the core consumer of fashion and luxury. With low brand loyalty and contemporary view of value, all they are after is fresh concepts that grab their attentions, concepts that become the pieces and its value.
Brands are all playing up to these desires. But with the Millennials’ quick shift of attention, very soon a pure concept won’t attract them anymore, and they would want something more, they would want to be a part of the concept. - Inspiration
- What does it mean to tie a shoe? Why does it need to be tied?
If all a shoe need to do is to enclose your foot, how differently can a shoe perform this task?
Can the mundane action of "shoe-tying" turns into something more meaningful or entertaining? Can the closure dictate how a shoe works, or become a shoe itself? Can it alter the user's experience and behavior?
Colors of Wacky Pack Interactive Footwear
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Design Interview about Wacky Pack Interactive Footwear
The investigated question is inspired by the constantly hyped sneakerhead community, where so many conversations happen around all kinds of footwear, yet for many people, their only interaction with the products is to take them on and off. As an industrial designer, I frequently reflect upon the relation between products and users, also I'm poised to provide the most unexpected and unique user interactions with the products I design.
The Wacky Pack challenges the mundane concept of footwear closures, the goal is to push the boundary of wacky methods that a shoe can be "tied".
This is just the volume one of my endeavor of footwear closure exploration. Like a chair's function is to suspend a person's butt 30 inches off the ground, there are unlimited possibilities of how a shoe can be "tied". Of course, selected styles within this footwear collection will be produced in a very limited way.
Some designs took longer to ideate, but some are more spontaneous. After concept generation, the time spent around testing materials, creative prototypes and executing the final versions took roughly 2 months.
I created this series during a time when I wanted to get into the footwear industry. I had just learned traditional shoe making techniques and wanted to combine these traditional methods with innovative problem-solving.
I intend to produce the work myself. However, I am open to the possibilities of partnering with companies to produce these designs, such as Hender Scheme or Guidi.
To explore some of the untouched territory of footwear design, as well as expressing my own design philosophy.
The Japanese brand Hender Scheme influenced greatly on this collection. As a brand that combines traditional footwear crafts with modern aesthetics and product ethos, they might not be the most technologically innovative brand in footwear, but is definitely deeply rooted and involved in the conversation around cultures between footwear, fashion and product.
People who purchase a product not only because of it's functionality, physicality or aesthetic, but also because of the underlying statement that it translates.
The collection borrows some classic and even indigenous footwear silhouette, but building novelty elements over them, so the creative conversation has a familiar tangible origin to trace back to.
In the footwear industry, a collection of shoes launched at the same time under the same theme is usually called a "pack". I was fascinated with the phrase, "that's wack!" and at some point expect people to make that exact comment on my design, so Wacky Pack.
All means of traditional shoe-making practice. From Pattern making, to sewing panels, to lasting the shoes and attaching bottom units.
The whimsical nature of how the design is explored and executed. I often infused my work with my quirky sense of humor.
This collection is designed and fabricated by myself.
In my opinion, mass-produced soft goods fasteners like snap buttons and zippers are fascinating. Firstly, they're industrial advancements that make certain functions easy to perform. Secondly, they dictate the form of closure to some extent, providing limited yet intriguing opportunities to design with or against the feature they present.
Research was conducted on GenZ's consumer behavior in the category of fashion and footwear. With low brand loyalty and a contemporary view of value, what Gen Z are after is fresh concepts that grab their attentions, concepts that become the pieces and its value.
There are reasons why zippers don't usually go under the bottom of the shoe. Some of these seemingly straight. forward concepts are actually more complicated to engineer to function while keeping a clean aesthetic.
To further spread my design ideology though sharing the way I observe, think and make through my creations.
Process should always be respected and paid 100% attention on, whether that's testing material properties, validating functions through prototyping or test fitting.