The 5 Special Design Shoes

These 5 nice design shoes are really cool. Every design make for certain purpose, they don’t just design for good looking but for special use. Let’s check it out!

1 ) Foldable Sneakers

About 15 years ago, a fashion designer exhibited a line of clothes that folded into books. It was a new paradigm for dressing. I can’t for the life of me remember his name but the Minimax concept by Marc Illan triggered a flashback when I was inspired to study the math and art behind origami. The “foldable shoe” idea, tho not original, is explored really well here. A simple urban slip-on that looks great. There are advantages for both consumers and retailers from being able to fold it flat for storage. It’s a reduction in material waste and packaging. Brills!

Designer: Marc Illan

2 ) Straw Sneakers

In this project, designer HoDong Sung took on the task of redesigning a two thousand year old shoe. A shoe design, I should say, not a old rotten shoe. The Bio Mituri is the 2009 re-design of the traditional Mituri straw shoe from Korea. Reducing pollution and increasing style points at the same time!

Enjoy this and Sung’s fantastic industrial design travels and shoe-history in real sneaker comfort! First let me tell you a tiny bit about HoDong Sung. Born and raised in Seoul, South Korea where vivid memories spring forth of low eco standards in high-quality athletic footwear factories (this was in the 1980s.) From there, Sung spent time developing industrial design skills in super-eco-clean Australia. Then Sung was a footwear designer for Nike in Oregon, USA.

Then on to Adidas in Herzogenaurach, Germany. This path, along with the changing and ever-greening times, Sung began designing an eco-friendly no-performance-sacrificed set of shoes. For the Bio Mituri the “main idea is combining Korean traditional Mituri upper design with western developed sole structure, which is the perfectmarriage of natural material with ergonomics.”

A. Mituri twisted straw replaced with bamboo yarn for durability, eco-friendliness. (Anti-bacterial, non-allergenic) B. Mituri adjustability improved upon with new upper structure with a string system that wraps top, bottom, heel together all at once. C. Mituri weak points done away with using biodegradable foam midsole.

This sole biodegrades 50 times faster than the average shoe. D. Production reduction (combining toe cap, heel counter, insole, and midsole in to one injection-molded midsole) minimizes CO2 emissions. Also has recycled tire outsole. E. Glue used to connect outsole and midsole is water-based cement, avoiding chemical bonds that pollute.

Designer: HoDong SUNG

3 ) Reebok Maeda Struccess

In their first collaboration, Maeda designed the Timetanium which was inspired by Time. His second design, the Emoretion, drew from Emotion. His newest design, the Struccess, comes from Law #9: Failure. Maeda says, “if you fail, keep trying – struggle to reach some form of success.”

Using three of Reebok’s state-of-the-art technologies, the InstaPump Fury is Professor Maeda’s canvas, and his handwritten code that decorates the shoe’s lining creates puddles of graphics all over the shoe. With so many parts – from the pump to the carpet fiber to the Hexalite – it’s a whole different animal. Only 300 pairs of these electrifying sneakers will be available as of July 2nd for $200 but only a portion will be available on Reebok’s website here in the US.

Designer: John Maeda

4 ) Mood shifting shoes

What is it about high heels that make women weak in the knees (other than it makes women literally weak in the knees)? Oh right, I remember now, high heels are HOT! So what is a girl to do when she leaves with her office in boring flats and wants to show off her stems? Get herself up to speed with this adjustable heel shoes called “Goodie 2 Shoes” by designer Natalie Thorne.

The height transition is made possible by a quick and easy male and female peg system secured by strong magnets and a hidden hinge. But wait, there’s more! The whole look and feel of the shoe can be altered by the interchangeable plastic uppers.

These customisable uppers are attached using snap fixings, which allows them to be easily clipped on and off, replacing them with uppers of different shapes, colours and styles. And if that were not enough, she will even throw in a pair of ginsu knives for free! Act now.

Designer: Natalie Cosette Thorne

5 ) Shoe Headlights

The title of this post says it all, headlights on your shoe. Pioneer is a concept shoe that coverts kinetic walking energy into electrical energy. There’s a tiny battery that charges up with each step and can keep the headlights on for a full 12 hours straight dispersing light at 1.5 meters. Although the aesthetic design seems quite simple, it’s purposeful.

The material is waterproof but breathes. The sole is solid rubber to absorb shock and also shields your foot from weird electrical happenings. This kind of reminds me of my L.A. Gear red LED sneakers. Anybody remember those? I use to force myself to walk, hop, jump – anything to make them flash.

Sumber : http://lilomag.com/2011/01/06/the-5-special-design-shoes/