By: The Mizuno Shoe Guy
In the building cycle of state-of-art running shoes, the design process is the key element. At Mizuno, that process begins with building the foundation of a great shoe by the best footwear techs in the world. That exhaustive design process blends the science and engineering of modern shoe-building with the art of shoe design, unique to the Mizuno brand.
To that end, Mizuno global product design has been consolidated in Mizuno’s Design Center for Product Excellence in Portland, Oregon. There, a team of Japanese and American designers and engineers are tasked with bringing together function-driven design into running footwear which accurately reflect the DNA of Mizuno.
“Our designers are world-class,” says Mark Sheehan, US Director of Footwear Marketing. “They have been schooled in the Japanese ethos of design and they live and breathe footwear. They have a great passion for innovative design which is tempered with R&D discipline and creative problem-solving. Not all Mizuno designers are Japanese, but their designs must reflect our Japanese heritage. That’s essential to the process.”
This process comes together in the Mizuno Design Center. Nestled in a funky southeast Portland neighborhood, surrounded by coffee shops, sushi bars, brew pubs and yoga studios, the three key designers who are based there—Natsuki Sato, Tomo Yonekawa and Yusuke Ide–are charged with taking a shoe from its earliest conception and bringing that idea to fruition into a practical design. Although all three work closely with designers and engineers in Japan, they have lived and worked in the United States for several years. In Portland, they work under running industry veteran Todd Lewis, Mizuno’s Global Director of Performance Running.
“We brought all of our product development here,” says Lewis, “because Portland is truly the epicenter of athletic footwear. All the major companies are either based here or have satellite offices because this is the place to be for the athletic footwear industry in terms of people, resources and innovation. It all comes out of Portland.”
Although Mizuno has had a design studio in Portland for 10 years, it has never had the global importance attached to it until recently. Prior to the expansion of the Portland studio, most shoe design was initiated in Osaka. Now, that, and other aspects of the shoe design process will originate in Portland.
“It’s a huge change for us. By being here in Portland, we’ll be a lot closer to American runners and better able to respond to their needs,” says Lewis. “Our ultimate goal is quite simple: To build better product.”
Mizuno will continue to be closely identified as a Japanese brand with more than 100 years of heritage. Says Lewis, “But we hope to broaden the reach of our brand. There’s no question, we have some very good shoes that epitomize Mizuno’s philosophy of fit and feel. We aren’t going to change any of that. But that was chapter one. That was the Wave technology. We’ll certainly continue to have that, but what is the next step? What else is out there?
“I can’t tell you what that is right now, but there are a lot of runners out there who we aren’t serving. There are some categories we don’t play in as well as we should and if we do our jobs right, we can develop new shoes that serve more customers better. Mizuno is an authentic brand which puts out great product and that gives us the license to expand. What we will do here in the next few years isn’t about changing Mizuno; it’s about growing it.”
Clearly, the Wave technology has been synonymous with Mizuno running since 1997, but as the shoes evolve over the next few years, the Wave will only be one of the technologies Mizuno offers, says Lewis. There are emerging technologies and categories—such as plush cushioning, better underfoot feel and foot activation experiences—that will culminate with new footwear products in the near future.
Mizuno running footwear is primed for change because the running landscape has changed. The greatest change has been the influx of new runners and/or self-described casual runners who run three or four times a week, but don’t define themselves as “real” runners. They might do other fitness activities with running at its core and yet still want a quality running shoe.
“As a brand,” says Lewis who ran competitively at Arizona State and was an Olympic Marathon Trials qualifier, “we have been very focused on the hardcore runners. But the other people out there who run—perhaps, less seriously–demand great fitting, performance shoes too. We need to pay attention to how we can better serve them without deviating from what we do well. That has important implications for our line.”
At this point, how that impacts the Mizuno customer is difficult to say. The ’16 line has already been finalized so the implications of new designs, technologies and materials are still at least two years down the road.
That might seem long, but at Mizuno, the entire shoe design and building process takes about two years. That’s in line with most running shoe companies, but longer than most other types of athletic footwear because running shoes are so technical and the testing process is especially long and involved to make certain that the shoe works and fits as it should.
“We take great pride in our design process,” says Sheehan who works closely with Lewis and the Portland group. “Our designers’ task is to make every shoe a significant advancement. The Mizuno brand demands the best looking, most functional running footwear possible.”
In Portland, the design expertise that goes into each shoe begins to take shape. The walls of the expansive working space are covered with designs, components and drawings of new shoes. These drawings and designs show a combination of the Eastern passion for perfection and innovation with a Western look.
The primary result of the Eastern and Western cultures is function-driven design. Design simply for the sake of a hot-looking shoe is never an issue as form, fit and flexibility must be dialed in first and only then, can the aesthetics be placed around them.
“When I’m in a running store,” says Sheehan, “I want to see how our shoes stand out on the wall. I firmly believe our shoes are special and the reason they are is because they are absolutely purposeful and functional in intent. That’s a reflection of the work of our design team.”
That purposefulness of Mizuno shoes is the primary consideration, but one of the most debated aspect of any running shoe is its color. The design team makes use of color pallets and boards and also utilizes a company which forecasts colors and patterns, but often it simply comes down to intuition, style and taste.
“We look at all the colors and some just stand out as something that is very true to Mizuno,” says Lewis. “We spin each men and women’s shoe in at least five color options and then decide which ones we like best.”
Once the colors have been chosen and illustrations of the shoe have been finalized, prototypes are made. That triggers the year-long sampling process which goes through at least three stages as the shoe is tweaked and adjusted—based on extensive wear testing– until a final sample is reached, confirmed and produced.
Salesmen samples are usually produced about eight months before a shoe hits the streets. That allows time for Mizuno Territory Managers around the country who present the new shoes to retailers who then place future orders. Once those orders are received, Greg Caiola, Mizuno’s business manager of running footwear, has a good idea of how the new shoe will sell and makes his projection based on those orders. Caiola then places an order with the factory for how many thousands of pairs of shoes he wants built for the American market.
Once the shoes are manufactured at one of several factories, they are shipped to the United States. From there, the new running shoes begin shipping to the stores about two weeks before their actual delivery date. Typically, new Mizuno shoes are available at retail in early fall (October or November), the first week of the new year and early June.
Says Lewis, “Our shoes are designed to reflect how we feel about running. Our shoes are light, flexible and have the smoothest heel-to-toe transition. That’s Mizuno running. Even so, in the future, our shoes will continue to evolve. Even the Wave will almost certainly evolve.
“What won’t change is the Mizuno philosophy of fit and feel. That has worked for a long time. We have never been like the other brands. We will never be a me-too company, chasing a trend or technology. Innovation and functional designs are what drives us as designers and shoe-builders. Those are the roots of Mizuno running.”