SFMOMA | Exhibitions | Design Afoot

Design Afoot: Athletic Shoes 1995 - 2000



	on view: July 22, 2000 - October 17, 2000 Featuring over 150 shoes from more than a dozen companies such as Adidas, Converse, Nike, Oakley, Polo and Prada, Design Afoot traces the recent evolution of athletic footwear design in which the line between fashion footwear and high performance shoes has blurred. It presents shoes that are both expressive and disciplined, integrated and collaged, and both representative of what they do and part of an overall tribal outfit. The exhibition showcases these shoes in lines of shelves that give the viewer a chance to compare the various attributes of these objects. "Within the context of the Museum, we will judge these athletic shoes for the design they have to offer even as they disappear in the blur of movement and advertisement," states Aaron Betsky, SFMOMA curator of architecture, design, and digital projects.

PUMA
Cellerator Inhale, 2000
Synthetic materials, EVA, rubber
Collection SFMOMA, gift of PUMA
Photo by Ben Blackwell

		Few designed objects are as universal as shoes. They are the most common and primary extension of our body into the landscape. They are complicated constructions that have to last, look good and be comfortable. In recent years, high performance footwear has pushed each of those criteria to the point of expressing speed, power and rugged comfort in an array of colors, materials and compositions. High performance sports has become one of the arenas where our society experiments with new materials and forms. Because of the immense and highly competitive market for such objects, manufacturers have invested a tremendous amount of energy in making the tools and apparel that let us move faster, play harder and go places we never before have explored. The sports industry has been responsible for the entry into the mainstream culture of new materials such as GortexÅ, and has made bright colors, elongated shapes and eccentric forms part of our everyday vocabulary.

	Acupuncture Lulu Longtime 1999 Collection Acupuncture Clothing

Acupuncture
Suki Saki, 1999
Synthetic suede, embroiderred synthetic fabric, nylon, polyurethane, rubber
Collection SFMOMA, gift of Acupuncture Footware

Sneakers bring this experimentation to a simple form and task: how to encase and protect the foot and translate its power to an outside surface. The task for the designer is then respond to this challenge with a form that manifests speed, power and originality. This is where shoes, unlike other sports gear, meet fashion. Sneakers are not just functional playthings: they are part of the way in which we present ourselves to the world. They are an essential part of the uniform of the urban nomad.

For more than a decade, Nike led the industry in both technological innovation and style. Air Nikes and their outdoor sandals and other high performance shoes, brought applied science to the court and the hiking trail. Nike produced shoes whose strange, bulbous shapes were justified by their function, and whose form translated the firmàs celebrated logo into a three-dimensional object.

In recent years, firms such as Adidas have come to compete with Nike in this arena. Others, such as New Balance, have sought to offer a more disciplined and balanced alternative to the expressiveness that is the hallmark of Nike. Still others, such as Tommy Hilfiger and Ralph Lauren, have applied the lessons of the athletic shoe industry to the realm of high fashion.

Shoes change every season. New materials and technologies continue to come to the fore. Computer aided design and production have freed designers to create more outlandish forms that can still be mass produced. While the field is now more diverse, the level of innovation and the pace of change remain higher here than in almost any other field of design.