When the opportunity came along to design the ultimate cross-training shoe for kids, I was not about to waste it. With the growth of high intensity interval training the marketing team wanted a highly functional, versatile training shoe for a variety of sports and training activities.

While functionality was to largely take priority over price sensitivity with this project, the importation realities necessitated constructing the shoe from PU-coated leather. With that in mind I started placing the material in ways that played to its strengths.

I designed the upper to be constructed as a water-resistant 4-way stretch booty wrapped in a molded PU-coated leather armor shell. In the early design process we experimented with a corset-like lacing system down the lateral side for a unique multi-directional secure fit. The closure system functioned well in sample size, but we determined that it would run into problems in smaller sizes. For production we ended up leaving just the 2 top eyelets that still allow for some longitudinal tension.