Finding Your Way: Sneaker Careers You Didn't Know About
Because everyone can't be a designer.
Image via Complex Original
As you spend you college years partying, finding new ways to make Top Ramen, and buying sneakers, you are at some point going to have to start thinking about a job. You've considered a job in sneakers, but you realized, after that biology exam where you had to draw the chambers of the heart and your professor thought you were drawing a wounded penguin, that art and design is not your thing. Well lucky for you, design isn't the only job in the sneaker world. Neither is blogging for that matter. Here are a few jobs we think will help keep you close to the sneakers you love and get you a little coin in the process. Check out Finding Your Way: Sneaker Careers You Didn't Know About.
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Product Photographer
If you are like us, you get tired of seeing blurry leaked shots of product on ugly carpet. Seriously, why do people buy such ugly carpet? Anyway, if you would prefer high-gloss images that perfectly capture the essence of a shoe, you might be the perfect candidate for this position. Your images will go out into the world and be the prime images the customer will see when thinking about your product. Cell phone photogs need not apply.
Buyer
A buyer knows the streets inside and out. More on the retail side than the brand side, the buyer determines what will and what will not hit store shelves. In addition to being the guy responsible for your store selling the best product, you have to put in orders for the product 9-12 months before it will ever hit the store. And you thought picking out an outfit for the party tomorrow night was hard.
Public Relations
Pubic Relations, better known as PR, is key to any brand and often overlooked when it comes to sneakers. The PR company helps brands flush out ideas when it comes to sneaker launches and often facilitates most of the events. Even more, PR Managers often have a better grip on the pulse of the community that brands are trying to reach and become a indispensable ally when it comes to helping a product sell.
Production Manager
With so much of manufacturing overseas, a job as a production manager will most likely find you living and working in another country. Your job, as your title states, is to make sure that production is running smoothly. This means you know how much denim you are going to need to produce 100,000 pairs of the denim version of the Nike LeBron X NSW. You also know how long the process will take and how many workers you need to meet that deadline.
Developer
While it may seem like the design guys get all the shine, they are often working with a huge team to put things together. One key member of that team is the developer. The developer takes the designer's design and helps to make it a reality. With knowledge of the latest and greatest technology as well as the ability to call and get the factory on the phone should something go wrong during production, the developer is key to actually getting things done.
Communications
As a communications manager or specialist at a sneaker company, your job is to control the messaging that reaches the pubic. You interact with media and entertainment folks to make sure that they know what is the latest and greatest about a design, but to also make sure they have what they need to create stories around your product. You also help to keep the consumer happy with special events for the public so that they get to meet your signature stars and see them rocking your product.
Color And Material Specialist
Though this position can technically be two positions, the right person can knock it all out. Your job will be to select the materials that will make the final roll-out and what colors will be attached. This means you need to know how well blue takes to that suede and if necessary, find the perfect color swatch to make it pop even more. And that is just scratching the surface.
Apparel Design
For this position, you may have already started to work at it without knowing it. Remember that t-shirt you dreamed up that you could wear with Stan Smiths when they release later this year? Well that will be your job, but for every sneaker in your product line. From Basketball, to Soccer, to Lifestyle offerings, your job will be to create apparel that people will like and can pair with their favorite kicks. And no you can not just throw grapes on a t-shirt and call it a day.
Brand Manager
As a brand manager, your job is to know everything about a product line. That means if your brand is basketball, you better know everything about the least-expensive basketball shoe your company makes to the most expensive. And we are not just talking names and prices, you need to be able to talk technology and cushioning should the situation arrive when an athlete wants to know how a certain shoe will help him play better.
Legal
Do you like to argue and have the knack for proving your point ? While that alone doesn't make you a prime candidate for a lawyer, you will be happy to know that your Mom's wishes for you to become one may lead you to the sneaker promised land. Those guys that do all the design and fancy work on the shoes need someone to make sure their work is protected from overzealous competitors who think they can just use your technology.
Wear Testing
Do you have game? I mean top-level game. Game that shames those 9-5 guys that make it their business to stink up the gym after work. If so, you may be the person a brand needs to wear test. Since premier athletes are the focus of most athletic innovation, there is no reason you can't help a designer tweak a shoe so that it plays just a little bit better. Let's not even get into the free product that comes with this job.
Biomechanical Engineer
Wait.. you thought this sneaker world was all fun and games and that you didn't have to go get your learn on to get in the game? WRONG. Those dudes with those letters behind their name are helping to create product that better suits the way your body moves. From your toe to heel strike, to the way your body adjusts to different terrain, these guys are making sneakers better for you. Now get back to studying.