Gymshark Slider
Design Direction + Footwear Design
Design: Gareth TW Rees + Sabby Choi
Development: Kate Wang, Felipe Moreira + Ed Warton
Product Management: James Yelland
Mentoring | Research | Design Direction | Concept Development | Footwear Design | Technical Specification | 2D + 3D Visualisation
In September 2021 the Gymshark management requested a ‘sustainable slider’.
Although extremely simple, the development of this slider was complicated. We pushed our supplier and factory to try and hit 40% bio-based eva content in this slider, making it one of the most sustainable footwear products in the world at the time, even more so than AllBirds.
The ‘rise and fall’ feature line on the side profile was a prelude of what was to become for Gymshark footwear design language. The simple silhouette and form was deliberate, to put more emphasis on it's materiality. The ‘effortless’ and minimal aesthetic also predated what Nike launched later in 2023 with the ‘Calm’ slides.
We sampled some exciting colourways and material mixes in the pipeline for the next couple of years - however, I felt the brand was risk averse to the newness. Frustratingly, the material innovation and unique product story was lost by the brand, and despite the fact that the Slider was poorly marketed and its desired sustainability credentials - not mentioned in communications, the product sold out in its first run as we anticipated.
