When Students Design Shoes for Allen Edmonds

In celebration of its 90th Anniversary, Allen Edmonds, the U.S.-based manufacturer of men’s footwear and accessories, announces the launch of a student design competition with one of America’s top design schools, Parsons The New School for Design – the first men’s shoe competition for the school. The winning design will be produced and sold in the upcoming Allen Edmonds Collection.

“We’re always working to push the design boundaries at Allen Edmonds,” said Paul Grangaard, president and CEO of Allen Edmonds. “Parsons is an absolutely premier American design school, and we believe the creativity of Parsons’ student designers will give us a fresh perspective on classic American styling.”

The design competition began with submissions from Parsons Fashion Design students.  From there, six semi-finalists were chosen and afforded the opportunity to spend two days at the Port Washington factory working with the Allen Edmonds design team to transform their sketches into 3-dimensional CAD designs ready for public voting, at: www.allenedmonds.com/parsons

Students were challenged to reinterpret the classic American men’s shoe with unique textures, on-trend colors and thoughtful attention to detail, while staying true to the Allen Edmonds origins of classic menswear.

The top three finalists will have the opportunity to work at the factory floor in Port Washington and bring their designs to life.  Allen Edmonds leather cutters, master sewers and burnishers will show the students the ropes as they develop their drawings into shoe prototypes for the final voting stage of the competition.

On March 26, the top three finalists will be revealed. The winning design will be chosen based on public voting, as well as the input of an expert judging panel and included in the upcoming Allen Edmonds Collection.

In the picture above: The six semi-finalists from Parsons The New School For Design tour the Allen Edmonds factory in Port Washington, Wis.