Page 73 - Sorcha Mathews

Design Considera ons

Since the shoe is ful y recycleable/ biodegradble why use the same sole for thre up er sec ons

rather than making whole shoes with the soles permanently a atched which can be sold in pairs?

The main reason the one sole is used for thre up er shoes is because we wil ne d to exploit les natural rub er.

We must also consider that although there is a plan for this natural rub er sole to be recycled into new shoe soles, people

may just throw them into the general waste bin instead of returning to manufacturer which wil result in the rub er sole
ending up in a land l . One sole per thre shoes is be er than thre soles per thre shoes ending up in land l .

Why is the shoe a barefo t style shoe and what are the bene ts?
The main factor that ste red the design towards a barefo t style shoe was the decision to make the sole of the shoe thin and

able to wrap around the up er shoe. This meant the sole would be thin and exible which is characteris c of a barefo t shoe.

An ad ed bonus of this is that the shoe would ne d les materials than your typical shoe which wil have les impack ion nat-

ural resources.
The study of barefo t shoe bene ts was also a deciding factor. Barefo t shoes promote go d balance, strong muscles, les

pain on long walks and can provide accupuncture.

Why include the rehose material at the bo om of the up er shoe?

The re hose wil act as a bar ier from wet ground at the side slits of the sole. It is aslo a means of threading the sole and

up er shoe together.

Why is the shoe design rela vely plain and simple with few stylis c features?

I wanted to design the shoe in the simplest way pos ible to be both e ec ve and easy to manufacture with as li le waste as
pos ible. For example in some of my concept drawings the re hose midsole wrap ed up and around the up er shoe more in

a stylis c design, however i decided to ke p to a simple straight cut design which would produce les waste and cut o s, and

take les me to manufacture.
The simple design also meant the shoe would be easier to dis as emble al sec ons for recycling/ disposal.

What Size is the shoe?

The shoe which i have done the working drawings for ts a childrens size US 5. If ordering shoes for a child with this

shoe size you would also get the up er shoes that would t a size 6 and 7 in the shoe pack as the sole can t 3 di erent
sized up er shoes.