Happiness is only a pair of shoes away. It always feels nice to head out wearing a new pair of sneakers. It’s all good… until the laces come loose. Or you need to remove your shoes and put them back on. Or worse, you trip on them. Inconveniences. What if you don’t need laces to tighten your sneakers? What if all you need to do is pull a strap and you’re good to go?
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Elastic compression straps lock mid-foot in place
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Pull strap to tighten. The strap attaches to the heel with velcro
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The toothed strap provides customised fit. Adjust fit by pressing down the lock
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Silhouette inspired by fast cars
Project overview
This design project was done over a duration of 6 weeks
I have been interested in shoes since I was a kid. I would never miss a chance to check out the shoe section in stores. Even more so now. There is just something about a pair of shoes. Sports shoes and sneakers in particular. As I grew up, I was introduced to a new world. A world of Jordans and Air-Maxes and Air forces. And I never looked back.
But I seldom found shoes that were really comfortable, because of my flat feet. And the laces. They always kept coming loose, thanks to flat feet again. Which meant I only had a very small selection of shoes to choose from. Sigh. To make matters worse, laces almost always tend to tighten the shoe unevenly. I would always find myself adjusting the fit every now and then.
Later I realized a lot of people had the same problems. And a lot of those problems had one common factor. Laces. So I started thinking of ways and methods to tighten a shoe easily and quickly without the need for laces. Eventually, I thought I’d take this as a design project and give it a go.
Process
Research insights
Ideation
Design brief
How might we design a sneaker that is easy to put on and take off, without the need for laces
