Apply development process to footwear design

Understand the needs of the consumer and analyse the fashion trends. Innovate and develop the footwear concepts from an aesthetic, functional and technological point of view by using a wide range of methods and techniques, selecting materials, components and suitable technologies, adapting new concepts to manufacturing requirements and transforming the new ideas into marketable and sustainable products for mass or customised production. Communicate visually the new designs and ideas.

develop footwear’s aesthetic, functional and technological design
develop footwear design process
apply development process to aesthetic, functional and technological design of footwear
apply development process to design of footwear

skill/competence

sector-specific

Apply development process to footwear design is an essential skill of the following occupations:

Bespoke footwear technician: Bespoke footwear technicians perform activities in small production environments (e.g. workshops) where footwear is typically custom-made. They design, prepare, cut and sew, assemble and finish custom made footwear.
Footwear product developer: Footwear product developers provide interface between design and production. They engineer the footwear prototypes previously created by designers. They select, design or re-design lasts and footwear components, make patterns for uppers, linings and bottom components, and produce technical drawings for a various range of tools (e.g. cutting dies, mould, etc.). They also produce and evaluate footwear prototypes, grade and produce sizing samples, perform required tests for samples and confirm the customer’s qualitative and pricing constraints.
Leather goods designer: Leather goods designers are in charge of the creative process of leather goods. They perform fashion trends analysis, accompany market researches and forecast needs, plan and develop collections, create concepts and build the collection lines. They additionally conduct the sampling, create prototypes or samples for presentation and promote concepts and collections. During the collection development, they define the mood and the concept board, the colour palettes, the materials, produce drawings and sketches. Leather goods designers identify the range of materials and components and define the design specifications. They collaborate with the technical team.
Leather goods product development manager: Leather goods product development managers coordinate the leather goods design and product development process in order to comply with marketing specifications, deadlines, strategic requirements and policies of the company. They communicate and collaborate with other cross functional teams or professionals involved in leather goods production, such as logistics and marketing, costing, planning, production and quality assurance. They are responsible for the leather goods product collections development which involve activities such as tracking style development, reviewing design specification in order to meet the design vision, the manufacturing environment, and the rent-ability of the companies.
Leather goods product developer: Leather goods product developers perform and interface between design and actual production. They analyse and study designer’s specifications and transform them into technical requirements, updating concepts to manufacturing lines, selecting or even designing components and selecting materials. Leather goods product developers also perform the pattern engineering meaning to make patterns manually, produce technical drawings for various range of tools, specially cutting. They evaluate prototypes, performing required tests for samples and confirming the customer’s quality requirements and pricing constrains.
Footwear product development manager: Footwear product development managers coordinate the footwear design and the product and collection development process in order to comply with design specifications, deadlines, strategic requirements and policies of the company. They track style development and review design specification in order to meet the design vision, the manufacturing environment, and the company’s financial goals.

Apply development process to footwear design is optional for these occupations. This means knowing this skill may be an asset for career advancement if you are in one of these occupations.

Leather goods CAD patternmaker: Leather goods CAD patternmakers design, adjust and modify 2D patterns using CAD systems. They check laying variants using nesting modules of the CAD system. They estimate material consumption.
Footwear CAD patternmaker: Footwear CAD patternmakers design, adjust and modify patterns for all kinds of footwear using CAD systems. They check laying variants using nesting modules of the CAD system and material consumption. Once the sample model has been approved for production, these professionals make series of patterns (grading) to produce a range of the same footwear model in different sizes.
Leather goods patternmaker: Leather goods patternmakers design and cut patterns for various kinds of leather goods using a variety of hand and simple machine tools. They check nesting variants and estimate material consumption.
Footwear patternmaker: Footwear patternmakers design and cut patterns for all kinds of footwear using a variety of hand and simple machine tools. They check various nesting variants and perform material consumption estimation. Once the sample model has been approved for production, they produce series of patterns for range of footwear in different sizes.

References

1. Apply development process to footwear design – ESCO