Ask anyone who obsesses over sneakers, and they’ll probably tell you that their dream job is working somewhere in the footwear industry. But actually getting that gig doesn’t come easy. It takes years of dedication, learning your craft, and finding the right place to fit in. One thing that helps, however, is talking to people who have been there before and soaking up game from them. To better educate aspiring sneaker moguls—and learn a thing or two ourselves—we spoke to people who work at sneaker stores, design shoes, and take photos. Here’s what they had to say about their come-up, their biggest challenges and more.
Ask anyone who obsesses over sneakers, and they’ll probably tell you that their dream job is working somewhere in the footwear industry. But actually getting that gig doesn’t come easy. It takes years of dedication, learning your craft, and finding the right place to fit in. One thing that helps, however, is talking to people who have been there before and soaking up game from them. To better educate aspiring sneaker moguls—and learn a thing or two ourselves—we spoke to people who work at sneaker stores, design shoes, and take photos. Here’s what they had to say about their come-up, their biggest challenges and more.
Steven Smith, sneaker designer
Age: 52
Location: Portland, Oregon
Education: BFA industrial design
Years in the footwear industry: 31
How did you get your start?
I ran high school track, and I liked New Balance. When I graduated school, New Balance was just starting to hire footwear designers. Before that, it was just shoemakers and development people. I interviewed, and they said, “Can you do blueprint drawings?” I minored in interior design and architecture, so I could draw blueprints all day long. We chatted a bit, and they said, “It’s lunch time, we’re about to go running. We go running everyday at lunch.” I was like, “Where do I sign?” I went home and they offered me a job. I was only the third designer that they hired. Me and Tinker [Hatfield] talked and we started around the same time when he transitioned from the company architect to actual footwear design. It was cool bringing the technical and footwear design into New Balance. I got to run in and test the product. That made me a better designer, knowing what I was designing and who I was designing it for. Kevin Brown did more of the court shoes, and I did the running shoes. So I did the 995, 996, 997, 574, 1500. In the ’80s, New Balance updated product that they hadn’t worked on in a while by changing the midsoles, and that’s how we did new shoes. When[I went to] Nike [and it] brought in the idea of seasonal introductions, it hastened the pace of things.
The corporate side of things with big brands like Nike or Adidas can be frustrating, because there are layers and layers. The big plus was the big corporate dollars that had the money to do things. During the early days at New Balance, I wanted to know how things were done. We had a factory below us, so I’d go down there and see how things were done and how we could do them better. So I have this weird hybridization of a designer and an engineer.
What's your day-to-day work like?
You spend time online looking for inspiration and keeping up to date on what’s going on. Part of creating new spaces is to zig when everyone else is zagging. With the big companies, they say, “Oh, I don’t know..” You’re always looking for new ideas and concepts. I like to stay in medical and aerospace, because that’s where new ideas and applications come from.
What's the hardest part of job?
One of the hardest thing is filtering fact versus opinion on people. I’ve seen so many good ideas get committee-ed to death and watered down. These are your children, these are your art. Then at some point you need to suck it up and say, “OK, I’m a designer, I’m not an artist. I’m answerable to other people, and I need other people to execute the final plan.” You’re still going to fight tooth and nail for it. People are paying you to create the magic. There are multiple people in this industry: Some are facilitators and some are complicators, and the complicators are the frustrating ones.
What’s your advice for someone looking to break into the industry?
Study some politics, because that’s what ruins all good design and relationships eventually. I grew up in Boston, so we have no time for bullshit. But too many other are all about the bullshit. With innovation, we’re trying to go to the moon. You can’t tell people, “We can’t really do that. Why would you go to the moon? Why don’t we build a balloon and just go to the top of the atmosphere. Why do you want to build a rocket?” Well, because no one else can. I’m the type of person who doesn’t take no for an answer. I want to find out why. My best advice for kids is don’t make it the same, make it better. In the early days, I’d see Nike do things, and I’d say, “Son of a bitch! How’d they do that? I want to know how they do that.” I haven’t seen much product in the past five years where I have to cut it apart and see how it was made.
Deon Point, Creative Director, Concepts
Age: Mid-30s
Location: Boston
Education: High school diploma. “Just high school. I barely made it through. I was a terrible kid. I didn’t even look at college. It was my upbringing and outlook at the time.”
Years in the footwear industry: 10-plus
Dan "Mache" Gamache, sneaker customizer
Age: 37
Location: Danbury, Connecticut
Education: College graduate, fine arts major and graphic design
Years in the footwear industry: 15
How’d you get your start?
I was always an art guy. My grandmother was an art teacher. We didn’t have a lot of money, so sneakers were my way of fitting in without having a nice outfit. I saw someone doing custom shoes in an issue of Complex. I had a pair of all-white Nike Air Max 90s. I had some paint in my mom’s basement, and I did some Dipset-themed sneakers that were all shades of purple. They were so bad, and I wore them to the barber shop. I got a reaction from the barbers like, “When did Nike make those?” After a while, all the barbers in the shop were wearing my shoes. They were telling everyone, “The white boy down the road made them.” This was before social media, so it was all word of mouth. Then I discovered the Internet and shoe forums. I started to feel more comfortable, so I started to charge money. I got into Instagram, Myspace, and getting international attention. Getting co-signs from Wale, LeBron James, and Pharrell really helped to get my name out there early. I went to sneaker shows; I’d seek out Fat Joe at Funkmaster Flex’s car show and give him a pair of shoes. I had a lot of face-to-face interactions, which is a lost art nowadays. Then when more people started to make custom shoes, it raised the bar for me, because I’m a competitive person.
What’s your day-to-day work routine?
I usually get to the studio at 10 a.m. I could be there anywhere from eight to 15 hours, depending what project is going on. There might be a last-minute project for cool things, which always is the case. So I’ll stay all night and finish those. The business aspect is 30 percent of my day. I’ll have my wife help out and answer emails. I’ll take calls, too.
What’s the hardest part of your job?
Learning to have thick skin. Art is a very subjective thing. If everyone likes what you’re doing, you’re not taking the right risks. For a while I was consumed with appeasing people and doing what everyone likes. What happened was I started to follow trends, and I lost my identity. I was known as the guy who takes risks and does things differently. Once I put the blinders on, I started to do things differently. In the end, you need to make money. If you do a custom on a Yeezy, you’re going to get attention, but I stopped doing work for the attention and did it for the quality.
How important is having a passion for sneakers?
It’s big for me, because I try to make sneakers that work with the shoe. We never thought custom shoes would take off as big as it has. I thought it was going to be a hobby. I think people can notice the difference between someone who has a passion for shoes and someone who slaps some patches on a sneaker and calls it a custom.
What’s your advice for someone looking to break into the industry?
The best advice is be patient. We’re in a society that wants instant gratification. Expect to mess up and expect to learn from it. I could probably put a kid through junior college with all the shoes I’ve destroyed figuring out how to make things work. I’ve been doing this for 15 years, and I was struggling for 10 of them. I was living off the Dollar Menu. It doesn’t come easy. It sounds cocky, but there’s a reason why I’m where I’m at.
Holger von Krosigk, Editor-in-Chief, Sneakers Magazine
Age: 42 years
Location: Cologne, Germany
Education: College degree, American studies
Years in the footwear industry: 8 years
How did you get your start?
I was a semi-professional skateboarder who was sponsored by D.C. Shoes. I transitioned from skateboarding and got into being an editor and contributing to skate magazines. I was the editor-in-chief of Monster Skateboard Magazine, one of the leading German skateboard publications. Then we founded our own publishing company and skateboarding magazine called Place. The transition from there to Sneakers Magazine was a small leap. In 2009, there weren't any sneaker magazines on the German market and only a few internationally. Having been into sneakers for a long time and seeing that even in our skate magazine the advertisers came from footwear—such as Nike SB, Adidas Skateboarding, Converse, and so on—we decided that it was the right time for a proper print title. It was German for some time, but we ultimately made the switch to English to reach more people with what we do.
What’s your day-to-day work like?
My day to day is really diverse. It depends on what point in the production of the cycle we’re at, or if we’re doing something for the website. It could be an office day where I’m handling invoices or making phone calls with the printing company or distribution. I also shoot pictures, write stories, edit text, and brainstorm ideas for stories. There’s also travel involved, too. I’m involved in every state of the process. I handle the advertising sales, and that’s a huge part of my work, working with the brands and speaking about editorial, advertising, content, and different angles for articles. I still do 30 to 40 percent of the writing for the magazine. Most of [my writing] is interviews with industry people, but I still write about products, too.
What’s the hardest part of your job?
Doing so many different roles under one profession. I switch from photographer to writing a story to selling an ad or organizing something. The leap from one to another can be hard sometimes. Content-wise, we need to look at who our readers are and where the magazine is headed. I think it’s fundamental. Without a passion, you cannot do the job or you won’t be able to do it very well.
What’s your advice for someone looking to break into the industry?
Find out where your skills, interest, and passion are and pursue it 100 percent without giving up. You need to be persistent and not shortsighted for the pursuit of profit.
Oscar Castillo, photographer, Adidas Basketball
Age: 29
Location: Chicago
Education: Some college
Years in the footwear industry: 13 years
How did you get your start?
I left school to pursue the footwear industry, working at sneaker stores. I was in the stockroom. The more I worked in footwear, the more I appreciated every aspect of it. To some people, it’s just sneakers. At the time, digital cameras were super-expensive and I’d take pictures with a [Sony] Cyber Shot and post them on the shop’s Myspace page. That’s how I got into it. As the years went by, footwear photography started to evolve, so I was able to bring product to life through photos. Brandon Edler at Finish Line reached out to a bunch of influencers four or five years ago to help build the brand’s online presence, and one of the people really liked our photography and he ended up working at Adidas. Then in 2016, they asked me to start shooting for the brand.
What’s your day- to-day work like?
I wake up and start blogging, then look for a location for a project. We find the location, shoot, edit, and submit the photos to the brand. Sometimes we have to find an athlete, make sure the shoe fits, find the right person for the shoot, find a location, shoot, and then edit, and do it all over again.
What’s the hardest part of your job?
It’s not just taking photos of the shoes —it’s the vibe you bring out of the product. There are so many details that people don’t realize go into it. You try to make the product stand out. You’re editing, there’s lighting. The sun is your best friend, so you’re racing against the day. It’s about the time and adapting to natural lighting.
What’s your advice for someone looking to break into the industry?
You need a deep knowledge of product and make sure you’re passionate about it. People get lured in by the idea that you can make a living off of it, and they’re not passionate about it. It takes a very specific mind to appreciate product. For a young kid that’s trying to get into it, make sure that you’re studying the sneakers and know everything about them. Understand there’s a deeper meaning to the sneakers other than just being product. The more time I spend with it, the more I realize what brands are looking for.
Mike Packer, store owner, Packer Shoes
Age: 47
Location: Teaneck, New Jersey
Education: College graduate, law school graduate
Years in the footwear industry: 40
How did you get your start?
Packer Shoes has been in the making since my grandfather started it way back. I was lucky enough to start at a young age working at the original store in Yonkers, since I was seven years old. Everything was always family-run. You got to do everything: unpack boxes, help customers. I got to grow into the business. Luckily, I grew up in the “golden era” of sneakers. Your taste is skewed because of the things you grew up in and around. You can’t trade that for any business school course in the world. For 15 years we’ve been at our Teaneck, New Jersey, location and it’s been a complete outgrowth. It was something that we thought was going to bubble up on a global level, but also here in the U.S.
What’s your day-to-day work like?
It’s gotten easier, but harder over time. When we first opened our store in Teaneck, I was dealing with customers, staff, and the back end. I did everything that store owner does, but things have progressed. You can’t be in this business if you can’t look at product, trends, stories, or get your own ideas. We’ve always seen what the product is, and we’ve seen the bigger stories. It’s being creative and thinking about how you can push things forward. It’s a 24/7 thing. There are tasks that need to be done day to day, but some of the oddest and best ideas we’ve come up with don’t come up after thinking for an hour.
What’s the hardest part of your job?
Making everyone happy. But the hardest thing these days is showing how much we can give to the market, but also keeping that niche. We know there’s a customer base for what we do. In the business that we’re in, our customer base is a pimple on the global numbers of all these sneaker brands. What we do is bring energy, and it’s a real business. It’s not a hobby. You need to balance business and buzz, and we’ve proven we’ve been able to do it over time.
How important is having a passion for sneakers?
With everything that goes on with the day to day, there are so many times you can say, “Screw this, I’m not doing this.” But if you have the creativity, passion, and [confidence] that something can succeed, even if there’s going to be road bumps along the way, the [passion] has to be there. It’s hard to explain, but I’ll never be able to replicate everything that I’ve gone through. Has it slanted the way I view things? Absolutely. I’ve seen fashion trends and business trends and the way things ebb and flow, but I know things will come out the right way. When the word “sneakerhead” gets put in The Wall Street Journal and mass media, you get people coming out of the woodwork and wanting to open sneaker stores, because it’s the thing to do. God bless people who want to do that, but you can look at the stores who are in the same realm as we are, you can see that they’re people who are in it for the right reasons and have been around for a long time.
What’s your advice for someone looking to break into the industry?
Keep your eyes open, be humble, have opinions, but do it in a respectful way. Today with social media, a kid can go out and buy 20 pairs of sneakers, but it doesn’t mean shit. We’ve been able to grow, and we’ve had staff that’s worked with us for a long time. We treat it as a family and people you care about. We value their opinions. Some people will think they know everything. They’ll read a blog or read a history or look at Flight Club, but that’s not the business itself. Social media is a blessing and a curse. In my opinion, it gives young people a self worth that they think they have. But when they come into an employment position, they think they’re on an even playing level as people who have been doing this for a long time.
Aneesha Dewshi, PR, Gung Ho
Age: 30
Location: London
Education: BA hons Fashion Promotion
Years in the footwear industry: 7 years
How’d you get your start?
Interning. I studied Fashion Promotion at uni so naturally was drawn to PR, styling and journalism. I interned at a company who used to look after Converse and Crooked Tongues (back in the day before ASOS) and just worked my arse off, and it paid off.
I interned one day a week whilst I was completing my final year and after I graduated, I was offered a part time position and the rest is history!
What’s your day-to-day work routine?
Every day starts with what kicks am I going to wear that day, standard!
Once that important decision has been made, I make my way into the office at 9:30 a.m. and check the morning papers for any client coverage and new opportunities. Then I have to address my inbox which nine times out of 10 will have urgent client and media emails that need to be responded to.
PR is a funny one, because no day will be the same, sometimes you will have a day filled with meetings whilst others could be heavily involved with PR strategies and planning brand events.
What’s the hardest part of your job?
Ensuring you manage your time efficiently, I don’t think anyone is perfect but it’s a work in progress.
How important is having a passion for sneakers?
Massively! If it wasn’t for my love of sneakers, knowledge of the industry and connections I’ve made, I wouldn’t be where I am. Sometimes having a niche pays off.
What’s your advice for someone looking to break into the industry?
If you really want it, be persistent! This industry is very competitive so you always need to be thinking ahead and use your skills to your advantage. Hard work and dedication is acknowledged and pays off.
