The Creative Genius of Sneaker Design | Salehe Bembury and Cloe Shasha Brooks | TED

Cloe Shasha Brooks: Salehe, thank you so much for joining us. Salehe Bembury: Thanks for having me. CSB: Among many of your popular designs, you made Crocs cool. And this is called the Crocs Pollex clog, based on your own fingerprint mold. And what I love is that Crocs reach out to you asking if they could send you some shoes. And you said, "How about we actually collaborate instead?" And they said yes. So once they said yes, how did you decide to do this specifically? SB: It was a great honor because they first wanted to collaborate. And then when I sent them what I didn’t know was a kid’s Croc shoe, they let me know that they loved that I was thinking of the form of the Croc, which a lot of collaborators in the past were simply reskinning the Croc, maybe adding jibbitz. And I was thinking of the form, and that comes from my industrial-design background. Once they saw that I was interested in manipulating the form, they asked me if I wanted to be the first collaborative designer to create a Croc from scratch, which I immediately did a Birdman hand rub and said yes. (Laughter) And so this is the result of that.

Initially I had to make sure that I fostered and maintained the existing elements of the Croc DNA and made sure that I didn't scare away the existing consumer and getting the honor of working with a brand like Crocs, you get to work with their heritage and their DNA. So I had to make sure to maintain that and then also introduce my own brand identity, put it through a new lens, and potentially speak to a new audience. CSB: You know, it's pretty amazing because you've had a really amazing journey as a footwear designer. You started at Payless in 2009, and then you started doing collaborations with a lot of brands like New Balance, Cole Haan, Versace, to name a few. And now you run your own brand called Spunge, that's what those are. So to help paint the picture of how you've forged your own path, I'd love for you to share the story that I just love, of you being on your couch, eating cereal in a moment of unemployment and you somehow went from scrolling on LinkedIn to convincing Versace to give you your dream job. Will you tell us that story? SB: So, cereal on my couch, that is a description of the image of unemployment that I was experiencing at that time.

I was using all of the tools that have been given to us for outreach, LinkedIn, Craigslist, maybe it was even Facebook at the time, and sending messages to whoever would accept them. I reached out to a Versace design director, and I proposed an opportunity. I said, the sneaker industry is a multibillion-dollar business, and traditionally, that consumer isn't paying attention to fashion brands or traditionally paying attention to the sneaker brands that we're all used to and probably wearing right now. But then there was this mass education that happened that Raf Simons, Adidas, Nike, Comme des Garçons, and now this massive consumer was aware of the fact that fashion houses can make sneakers. And so I reached out to them, a few days later, Donatella herself responded. She said she loved my ideas. Perfect timing for that photo. She said that she wanted me to come out to Milan and present to her what I thought the sneaker program could be. I went out to Milan a few days later, presented a combination of merchandising and design and sales insight, and she loved it. And she was like, "I want to hire you.

I want you to move to Milan right away. Do you want to consult?" She was really open about what the opportunity could be. Because she was so open, I asked if I could have my own design studio in Los Angeles and travel to Milan monthly for factory visits and shows and she said yes. So I went outside and did my pursuit of happiness -- cry in the streets -- because my life changed instantly. But really what that was more about was the power of asking and what that can bring you. (Applause) CSB: So throughout your career, you've always used color and form and function in a way that's felt really playful. There's so many nuanced details in your designs, like there's so many Easter eggs that people could find if they know what to look for. So I'm going to show some pictures of your shoes, and I'd love to hear you share your design philosophy for each of them. Tell us about these. SB: So this was my first-ever collaboration with a Chinese brand called Anta. This was a from-scratch collaboration. A lot of collaborations these days are color-ups and skinings, but this was, I guess the result of a white piece of paper.

And I guess what I was trying to accomplish here was an introduction to footwear, the footwear industry and the audience -- because before that I was working at different brands, and this was the first time that a piece of footwear was going to feature my name. So there was a lot of things that I had to introduce to my existing audience. CSB: How about this one? SB: This is the HALI 1. It's the first signature sneaker of Tyrese Haliburton. I became a footwear designer because of basketball. That was my kind of initial inspiration that made me feel the emotions that I believe I'm giving to others now. It is with Puma. He recently wore it in the previous NBA finals. It had a pretty tragic ending, but it was still amazing to be a part of that shoe and for it to fall at that part of my career was really special. CSB: I love these. SB: This was a shoe I did with Pyer Moss, which is a high-fashion brand. The creative director reached out to me, and he asked me to create a shoe that represented the feeling of being financially stuck. I knew that I couldn't use concrete, so then I quickly thought of using silicone as the solution.

And that's what I made. CSB: And that was in a runway show, right? SB: Yes, this was in like a SW ’16 runway show, or SS. CSB: How about these? SB: These are a bunch of images from my Moncler Genius collaboration. This was my first ready-to-wear collection. And as of late, a lot of my work has been described as like world-building. And this was that in real form, because I got to create a full installation that helped further tell the story of the ready-to-wear collection and featured footwear, accessories, and there were some pretty big billboards as well, which I hadn't experienced thus far in my career. CSB: And when you did this ready-to-wear collection, how did you go from just doing footwear to clothing? Like, how did you think about that? SB: I think one of the most difficult things for an independent designer is creating your signature language. Like, what is that signature identity that someone can recognize without even seeing a logo? So once I kind of established that, I think it now makes it easy to bring that across different categories of product. CSB: And then this video is just so charming.

SB: That is Thundercat, that's Steven. That was for a New Balance project called "Sand be the Time." A lot of the projects are influenced by experiences. So this was from a trip -- Where was that? That was the pink sand dunes in Utah. And that basically was the foundation of the story for that shoe. So the average person looking at that shoe might see a pink shoe. But then with the story of the pink sand dunes and relating the execution of the chenille into the colors of the sunset. Now you’ve cultivated a community, you’ve invited people to come into your world and you've told a story. CSB: You got really into hiking in nature. You started designing outdoor shoes and gear, and in one instance you translated Arizona's Antelope Canyon into a shoe called Peace Be the Journey, which came out in 2020. And that shoe, even though it came out six years ago, is still so popular that it's being sold for markup on resale sites like eBay like, to this day, consistently, for a lot of money. So tell us why you think this shoe is still so popular.

SB: Potentially that I told a story that people could resonate with, this was influenced by a trip to Antelope Canyon, a beautiful place, for those that haven't been. And ultimately the goal was to make this shoe represent that experience. So if you're looking at that shoe, it's an orange shoe. But then when I tie the orange to the tones of Antelope Canyon and the blue of the N represents the sky, and the maroons represent the tones in the sunset. And then the campaign tells that story further. Now when people wear that shoe, sure, it may be a shoe that they think looks cool, but then they now feel like they're a part of a community. I remember when I first started traveling to China for work, I would always look for people wearing Supreme because I assumed that there was a higher likelihood that they spoke English. So sometimes there are visual cues that signify a community. CSB: It's so cool. So staying on that New Balance theme, you designed the New Balance 574 Yurt shoe, with a whistle on the heel. SB: Yes. CSB: So most designers would never think of that. I'm going to share this with all of you so you can see what I'm talking about.

(Whistling) (Laughter) CSB: So how'd you think of that? SB: So New Balance tasked me with the opportunity of creating a shoe from scratch. Around this time, my buddy Samuel Ross, who's a designer based out of London, had this Nike shoe called the “Zoom Vomero,” and it featured a molded plastic piece on the back of the shoe. And I'd wear them a lot. And people would always ask me, what does that molded piece do? And I would respond, nothing at all. And people seemed to still accept it. And I found that really fascinating because it was a very unused area of real estate of the shoe. And so I thought to myself, what if this area of real estate could be used for something functional? Obviously, if that functional thing was filled with technology, now you’re looking at a $2,000 shoe, so that wasn't an option. Then I thought of how I could manipulate plastic to function. That became a whistle. Truthfully, I created the whistle without thinking of the why, the purpose, I just thought a whistle was cool.

And then, for the prototype, I glued a whistle into a New Balance shoe, and I met with the team and I told them a whole story of think about camping with your friends, and it's almost dusk and you stop to take a picture of some deer and your friends walk ahead. And now you've lost them. And then I grabbed a shoe from beneath the table, blew the whistle and then they all slow-clapped. (Laughter) And so again, that was maybe a little bit of my industrial design background, you know, trying to figure out how to find utility within maybe something that doesn't have as much. But then more importantly, I think it's kind of cool to just do something first in footwear, there's never been a whistle on a shoe. And if you were to think about how much energy it would take for you to scream if you broke your ankle on a hike alone, compared to the amount of energy that would just simply take you to blow a whistle. So, you know, giving the consumer a tool seemed like a good opportunity. CSB: You know, one thing I've heard you say before is that genius can be created in seconds and crap can be created over months.

SB: Yeah. CSB: I think that's such a great line. SB: That's why you never charge hourly. CSB: That is so true. So know, anyone who hires consultants. So how does someone optimize their life so that they can avoid creating crap over long amounts of time? SB: Maybe avoid distraction. I've always found that when trying to create, not getting too distracted by the thing that we all have in our pockets right now and constantly scrolling other people's ideas, social media, the internet, Instagram, it's a great sense of inspiration, but it can also create a massive cloud of distraction that makes you lose sight of your own vision. And so I think finding that balance between the work and avoiding distraction is important. CSB: Yeah. You know, one thing that you're known for, beyond your shoes, is speaking about those Easter-egg details in your work, is the boxes that you actually design for the shoes, the shoe boxes. And so any sneakerhead I've spoken to is like, oh, Salehe's boxes, like, "I love collecting his shoes because they stack so beautifully."

So like, how much time do you spend thinking about how the shoe will look on the foot versus in the box? SB: Well, I just think I often go back to, you know, I'm pretty experienced in footwear design, but I have my master's in footwear consumerism. So I just think of those moments that resonated with me and that made me feel cool or more athletic or magical. And so I'm really just trying to recreate those moments. I really think it's important to take advantage of every area of real estate of a product, because as creatives, all we have is that reveal moment, right? So when we reveal that product, how does it make the audience feel? Do they like it immediately? Do they not like it immediately? And then they see it over and over again, and then they start to like it. I love that relationship with product because it’s almost like “Steve Jobsian,” if that’s the term. Because, you know, he said the consumer doesn't know what they want until you show it to them. So the Crocs Pollex being an example. Like, there are a lot of people that that shoe upset at first and then slowly seeing them come around to both that product specifically, or even the brand of Crocs was really cool to witness because you almost were like, changing minds with product.

CSB: So this passion of yours runs deep. When you were nine years old, you made this -- Air Jordan 11 out of clay. And I would love to know, do you still feel like the nine-year-old version of yourself when you do your work today? SB: Absolutely. I mean, if you love what you do, it's not a job. This is pretty much what I've wanted to do my entire life. So there’s a certain level of freedom. There's a certain level of nostalgia that exists within my work. To quote Kanye West in one interview, he was saying that he felt like he was creating most freely when he felt like he was three years old. And that was a time in our lives when we didn’t have many boundaries or restrictions. And our creative output was exactly how we wanted it to be. And now we potentially have employers or market rules or trends that we need to follow. And then those are all ultimately like guardrails that prevent true creative freedom. So everything’s about balance at the end of the day, but I still try to maintain that freedom as much as possible.

CSB: Awesome. Well, thank you so much, Salehe. SB: Thanks for having me. (Applause)