Project description: I by ECCO is a group project at Kolding Designschool in co-operation with ECCO and Pensole, to make shoes (2016). The category of my team was casual shoes, divided in men and women. Each team consisted of three shoe designers and one color & material designer. The focuspoint in this presentation of the projekt, you will see my work as a shoe designer. In the end you will see a little bit of colors and materials, and also packaging and marketing.
I by ECCO fall 2018, Japan.
Univers: (The young Japanese) are breaking down walls from their culture of years of tradition. Their work ethic is strong, their discipline determined but their minds are open. Next to their dynamic professional careers they are passionate about individual expression of appearance. Those new influences for the future are the result of living in an era in which time and speed are essential, nothing is fitting in boxes anymore and everything becomes an option. The contrast between these traditions and boundary pushing individuals became our inspiration. Through merging timeless shapes with eclectic, architectural and bold ones.
We are Redefining the Classics.
Kyoko Nakamura, 26, works as a newspaper journalist in Tokyo and is working on the 2th year. Kyoko is very ambitious and dreams about being chef editor. She lives in the suburbs to Tokyo, and because of her long-hour-job, she doesn’t have the time to go home and change shoes during the day, therefore her shoes have to be durable for the whole day.
She is very competitive; not only in her job, but also in the bouldering club she enjoys working out at in the evenings. In the late evening she enjoys going to the Shibuya ward, which is within walking distance from the Shibuya Station. Shibuya is an upcoming neighbourhood in Tokyo. Here she likes buying clothes, but she especially enjoys buying delicate lingerie from agent provocateur, because it makes her feel chic, sexy and sophisticated. She likes to have good quality on the inside and enjoys the feeling of being dressed up just for herself.
Kyoko is single by choice. She is confident and has a high energy level. She was raised in an upper-middle class home, just outside the city. She normally wears toned down colours to be dresses appropriately for her job. Ever since she went to school she has liked dressing in the uniform, but having more daring accessories.
Conclusion: Kyokos work days at the newspaper are unpredictable, some days she has to walk a lot and maybe run, other days she spends most time at the office. Her everyday shoes therefore need to be practical and versatile. Visually they need to suit her style during the whole day and evening out in the city.
The keywords of I by ECCO was Innovative, Comfortable, Exeptional and Bold, so each shoe designer had to design after the word Innovative and one of the others. My word was Exeptionel.
After the first induvidual ideation the shoedesigners took some inspiration in each other sketches to make it seem more of a collection.
Explanation of the design of KN11: The inspiration and the shapes of the upper-shoe are from the subway map of Tokyo. It makes a speedy and an sporty look of the upper shoe, which fits with Kyokos fast life and bouldering time. On the same time the shoe looks very exeptional because it has a shiny heel (thin silicon layer) and lining (silvery leather). It is a boot and a redefinition the classics chelsea boot. Kyoko is buissy in the mornings so the shoe has a zipper to get fast and easy in it The stitches symbolizes Kyokos steps thruogh a day as a journalist and because Kyoko walks a lot the shoe has a high toespring which promotes walking.
The collection of casual women shoes for I by ECCO fall 2018:
The collection of both casual women shoes and casual men shoes for I by ECCO fall 2018:
Here starts the work of the color and material designer, but as you can see, she has chosen the colors and materials after ower keywords innovative, comftable, exeptional and bold:
