Getting through a lot of rough sketches helps get ideas out and see how shapes, material breakups and general attitudes start to come together. 

After an initial exploration, I felt I was still close to traditional hiking boot silhouettes. I wanted to push the idea further, and did these more technical rough sketches. I chose the one on the left to render up. This one had a hiking boot sole, structural/abrasion resistant materials, paired with a more simple and sleek running silhouette.