Another shoe in our 'Get Inspired' series, designed and made by @lillaejuhaszshoes
'Get Inspired' is a series of shoe design collaborations with the intention to inspire our community to unlock creative ideas and apply them to shoes.
💥 We were kindly gifted these POW! motifs by @abakhanfabrics (which we are totally obsessed with by the way!) so Lilla worked her magic again & designed this whole pair of trainers around them.
💥 When we originally started this pair we had a light pink sole in mind but as they started to come together we decided they needed these chunky soles instead and I'm so glad we had the option to switch them out. It was pure luck that they were the right size, this sole came from a street market in Istanbul in 2019 so it wasn't really something we could just order in another size.
One of the easiest things to go wrong when designing shoes is for them to look 'over-designed', which can often happen when you have an idea and take it too far. For example, with this design we knew we wanted a pink heel section but the big question was should it have a pink toe section also.. We decided no, because we thought they would start to resemble some sort of bowling shoe. 😂
Seeing the shoe finished I am so glad we just kept the pink to the back as we already have an interesting sole & big POW! motifs, so the shoe itself looks much better as a simple design.
A big question I get asked all the time is “How can I buy soles for trainers?”
Well, we've got you covered! We now sell trainer soles over on our supply shop that perfectly fit our lasts!!
But for this project, I actually used a classic Margom cup sole. These can be easy to find and it's easy enough to build up your lasts to fit the cup sole (See this video for instructions) and stitching this style of sole to your finished shoes is also easy enough, but when it comes to vulcanised soles that’s when you can encounter a problem.
Here’s a few things to think about before you buy them…
1. Do you have lasts that fit? If you don't have lasts that fit the soles, then you won't be able to make shoes for them. Seems obvious but it's a mistake people seem to make a lot. Remember that lasts always come first.
2. How are you going to attach the soles? If you can’t stitch them, you’ll need to glue them and if you’ve got soles that wrap up the edges you’ll need to add pressure with a sole press.
The good news is that you can build up your lasts to fit most soles, if you’re going to do some major building then I’d recommend you start with a smaller size.
See video listed below ;)
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The course covers how to make shoes from scratch including heels, flats, boots, sneakers, sandals, and more. The thing that really sets this course apart from others is that it's specifically designed for total beginners and requires very little in the way of tools & equipment, there's even a bonus module on how to start your own shoe brand. To make getting started even easier, the course comes with a FREE Shoemaking Starter Kit, delivered to your door, anywhere in the world! 🌍
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