Upcycled Skate Shoe — Pensole Footwear Design Academy (2019)

In 2019 I was accepted into Pensole Footwear Design Academy after submitting an original footwear design — one of roughly 30 to 50 designers selected from around the world for a three-month intensive in 2D footwear design. There I learned to render footwear in Photoshop and Illustrator and worked as part of a team, each of us carrying our own project under a shared client brief.

My client was Maple XO, a Portland-based skateboarding upcycle company, and the challenge was to design a shoe built entirely from upcycled materials. I chose a skate shoe, which I developed and presented as a 2D render.

The concept centered on a donation model: skateboarders drop worn clothing into a collection bin, and those materials, corduroy, suede, leather, nubuck, and denim, get upcycled into the uppers, so no two pairs come out quite the same. For the sole, I proposed grinding down used skateboard wheels and melting them into a cup sole that functioned as both the cushioning system and the outsole. An internal bootie locked the foot in for a secure, connected feel while skating.

Check out the full project below!