"I asked her friend, what do you do for Nike? He said he was a footwear designer and I was like whoa, whoa, whoa wait how did you do that? Did you study fashion...? There was just not the knowledge I think there is today. After I heard his job and what he did I was like wait this is the perfect job. I'm a runner. I love art and design. Why can't I put these two things together?" This week we had the honor of speaking with Valerie Weilert, a footwear designer in the running industry. We go into her beginnings in the footwear industry and talk about thoughts on super shoes and racing flats. A lot of good information on shoe design here for those interested in how the process works. Special thanks to Val for speaking with us and sharing her story! Chapter Preview 00:00 - Intro, Val's background in running and footwear design 7:19 - What is the normal day of a footwear designer?/Design process 13:23 - Evolution of a shoe design 14:47 - Developing shoes/spikes for athletes to consumers 30:36 - Super Shoe thoughts 44:43 - The classic racing flat, and finding the right shoe for you 56:00 - World Athletic impacts on shoe designing, and thoughts on popular track shoes today 1:01:50 - COVID impact on professional training 1:06:24 - Coffee or tea?

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