by Dave Jewell

This is the final installment in Dave Jewell's series on running shoe production: sample, testing and production.

You can read about the previous stages here:
T-Minus 24 Months: Part I
T-Minus 24 Months: Part II
T-Minus 18 Months: Part I
T-Minus 18 Months: Part II

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The easiest part of building a running shoe is building a sample. Clearly you have to have good design and good development to get there but getting a size 9 men’s running shoe done really good isn’t that hard. In fact we have three tries to get it right.

At each sample stage we roll through four to six weeks of long-term testing. Here we use our athletes, the surrounding running community and some retailers to do the testing. At each stage we make adjustments based on the feedback and based on what we see in the shoes. This gets us to what we call a “Confirmation Sample.”

At this sample stage we are done. We know the material, the color, the fit and the feel we will use to create the product. Typically this gets us to six months from production and delivery to retail. Personally I’m not the favorite in the shoe business during this stage. For instance, for the 2011 season, I trashed (meaning we started over again at the blueprint) every new shoe (new midsole, new upper) during the testing phase. The last shoe I trashed was two months before production started (you should have seen the look on the face of the factory manager when I told him we were changing). The only reason for this is to get the shoes right based on the testing.

From confirmation we go to commercialization. It is this stage that is the hardest part of running shoe making.

Let’s talk about cars for a second. I’m sure that in the auto manufacturing process there is a confirmation sample. The rolled up cost of that sample must be mind blowing. But from there they basically have to make the confirmation over and over and over again.

Now look at a piece of apparel. There you work to a confirmation sample. That sample determines that the pattern is right and that the materials are right. For most running shirts that means you now have to grade that pattern up or down to create four or five different sizes.

Take that idea and apply it to a men’s sample size 9 running shoe. That shoe and it’s pattern of upwards of 50 pieces has to be graded to at least 11 sizes and many times a great deal more. So the idea is that the size 13 fits and feels as good on a size 13 foot as a sample size 9 does on a size 9 foot.

Believe it or now this is where the expertise lies in China and the surrounding countries. Sure the labor is low but the expertise to replicate shoes over and over and over again is what counts. After all, you, the end consumer, expect that the size 10 you are trying on is exactly like the size 10 you’ve been wearing for three months. Every single one of your shoes is touched by as many at 40 people on a production line. Most likely your size 10s were not made the same day. So the fact that from a confirmation sample the factory gets your size 10s right is amazing. The fact that they get them right over and over again is called expertise.

Finally at the end of the 18 month cycle the shoes land at retail and on your feet. To be honest there is a real anticipation on our side that you approve of what we’ve done. We literally celebrate when the product finally lands at retail. Most of all we are hopeful that you can instantly give us some feedback -- feedback that we can use to create the next version of that shoe which in turn is probably less than 18 months away from hitting retail itself.

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The picture above is Liam Dolan (one of our Zoot athletes) on his way to winning the TriLimits Half in Ireland wearing the shoe that I've been tracing throughout the series: the Zoot Ultra Ovwa. There is nothing better than having an athlete choose your shoe and then go out there and put it to the test. Clearly by the photo, he’s got some miles in that shoe. It’s really dirty.

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Dave Jewell is the Director of Footwear for Zoot Sports and has 17 years of experience as a professional in the footwear industry. Prior to joining Zoot, Dave served as Category Manager at Adidas Running and Director of Running for Road Runner Sports. Dave is also a successful triathlete and a multiple-time Kona competitor.