Prototypes Prototypes (and suppliers)

I love getting emails from shoe makers. And to be fair, I mean, those of you that make shoes, think about making shoes, make ugly shoes, etc. So far, professional shoe makers have contacted me.

This email that I got recently made me realize how necessary prototyping is to the process of shoe making.

I've been at square one for a while now, as I have had no success in finding anyone that can help me to produce my own shoe. I'm very new, as I'm not from the industry. Looking for help with design, manufacturer of prototypes, and supplies. It's a lot, I know...but I've just been ripping old pairs up and piecing them together how I see it in my mind. Very rough way to start but It's all I have at the moment in a struggle to create goal. Any advice on where to go from here???


One of the things that really helped me when I started was my ability to just do stuff that sucked. I mean, really bad, ugly, horrible looking contraptions that you would never let see the light of day. I can't stress how valuable it is to be able to make three pairs of shoes in an hour. It's a good way to get the dumb ideas out. And it'll cost you about 5 bucks. I learned a technique from Gaza Bowen that involved packing tape.


Suppliers
Supplies are the easiest. I use a place in South San Francisco. But here's a good list of Shoe Repair Suppliers. If you can visit the place, all the better. I rarely knew the names of the parts I needed.
http://www.ssia.info/industry/wholesalers.asp

Manufacturers
Finding a manufacturer for the Prototypes may be a little more expensive. But I'd start prototyping in Felt. Sew it on a normal sewing machine until you work out some of the pattern issues. Once you have a good pattern, you could bring it to a shoe repair shop and see if they'd sew it for you. I'm sure they'll be a little perplexed. Really, all you'll need them for is their access to an industrial machine.

If you are lucky to live near a shoe maker, you could also approach them.

I've often been intimidated by shoe makers though. You might be more of a bother to them, whereas to the shoe repair guy, you represent business.

Once you've got the prototype down, you could give that to a manufacturer. But you can jump right to drawing stage. I know that a lot of designers send hand drawings to factories in China. I was surprised to find the solution so low tech. I don't know any contacts off hand in China, but I'm sure I am only a few degrees of separation. If that's something you are interested in, let me know.

On the Cheap
Another thing I'd recommend is the Syran wrap shoe. It's a very quick way to prototype shapes. And then you can cut out parts, retape, and try again.

You can also find links to the photos here. Almost all of these shoes were completed in less than an hour. Some in less than 15 minutes.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/8170698@N06/sets/72157606679535332/