5 important tips to keep in mind when starting your own footwear brand by Omar Bailey

November 15, 2020 by omar bailey

When launching a brand some of us may have more of a head start than others, however from my experience there are still some basic fundamental things to keep in mind that will always prove to be handy.

Know your cost

Have a target production cost for your product in mind. Don’t wait on the factory to give you a price, you set the target and force them to build you a great product for the price you are asking for. They will try to meet your target and if they cannot they will let you know and you cross that bridge if, or when that time comes.

Real trumps everything

Have your own material swatches ready to send to your development factory. I tell designers all the time describing your materials, emailing photos or pantones to a development factory for your samples is just going to be a waste of time. If your kick-off meeting to start developing your footwear collection is not going to be face-to-face then you need to ship physical material swatches and color references to your development factory. This will go a long way in the end and save you a lot of time, headaches and money. This will also increase your chances of getting back a decent sample that you can actually use.

Disorder vs Order

Hire a freight forwarder!!! Freight forwarding is by far one of the most pain in the ass and complicated parts of logistics. I stupidly handled my own sea freight order once from China to Miami thinking I would save a few dollars. Although it was a good experience for me to understand all the steps that it takes to get a container of shoes imported into the United States my advise is to hire a professional, there are plenty of services that specialize in this. There are too many things that can go wrong and the risk is not worth reward…spend the money and hire someone.

Be about it

Have your kick off meeting with your development factory face to face, in person no matter what. Call me old school but I feel like a meeting like this has to happen in person. What you may not realize in the moment is that your development partner will have more respect for you than you realize and your relationship will be stronger because of it. Meeting face to face shows your commitment to your brand and shows your development partners that you are serious. To be honest, if you don’t have the money to travel to your development factory then you probably shouldn’t be trying to launch your brand.

Keep your mouth shut

Don’t tell everyone that your launching a shoe brand period!!! Keep this a secret for as long as possible. Timelines don’t exist in footwear development and is not something you can plan around because you never know when something will go wrong no matter how simple you may think the shoe is. The moment you start telling people that you’re launching a brand is the moment you no longer manage your own expectations, and once that happens you start putting unnecessary pressure on those developing your shoes which can lead to critical mistakes requiring more samples, more corrections and before you know it you have a major problem on your hands. I know you’re excited to share the news and you want the entire world to know about your brand. My advice is just wait until the development sample is confirmed and you have it in your hands, then you can tell as many people as you like.

Saudi Sneaker Workshop (Al Khobar, Saudi Arabia)

May 02, 2019 by omar bailey in Sneakers

From April 8th to 12th, 2019 I had an opportunity to travel to Al Khobar, Saudi Arabia to teach a sneaker design and makers workshop. Hosted by Ithra, a company based in the area, there mission is to introduce a variety of creative industries to those who whom have some interest. This is just another example of how things have been changing in Saudi Arabia. I have to be honest and say I had no idea what to expect in Saudi, but the fact that they wanted to bring me all the way there to teach this workshop to me was a clear sign that things are changing for the better.

The center for world culture was the home for my workshop that entire week. It’s a beautifully designed building made of metal pipes and glass. I was told that the locals do not like it, but I can appreciate the thought into the design and overall concept of this building.

Because we did not have an actual workshop with machines to work from I had to be a little creative in my approach to teaching this workshop. I decided that we would use knitted uppers and sneaker soles as our base and thanks to a couple of friends who came through at the last minute for me I was able to have these components shipped to Saudi Arabia just in time. Without using Last, sewing machines, press machines, etc. we used the raw materials I ordered along with hot glue guns, scissors, cardboard and hardware accessories I brought in from my NYC shop and made shoes by hand from complete scratch.

Over the 5 day period my first 2 days was a crash course on how I design and develop a sneaker. I didn’t want there to be any confusion about how shoes are really made as a pose to how we would be actually making them in my workshop. My goal was to educate them about the process though images and video and give them true insight on how things are done from start to finish. The making part although it was a compromised version of shoe making was meant to be fun and brainless allowing the students to get there hands on materials and let there imaginations run free.

The making process…

I decided that the best solution to the situation of making shoes without any equipment and students with no shoe making training was to start with an insole board. Using the soles that I provided I asked each student to trace the outline of the sole onto the cardboard then cut it out and trim it until it fit inside of the sole. Next, each student chose a knit upper they liked then would use a hot glue gun to secure it to the insole board starting in the toe area and going around until the two half’s met in the back. At that point it was up to each student if they wanted to close the seam with a hot glue gun or hand stitch it themselves.

Once the upper was secured to the insole board and glued to the sole then it became about being creative, and the students really ran with it. Footwear development and making is all about improvising and coming up with ideas on the fly and using your creativity to make something cool right then and there. Although we didn’t have all the tools they all stepped up and really challenged themselves creativity using what was in front them and my job was to teach and guide them through that process and they did the rest.

My students were the best...I was pleasantly surprised by how engaged they were and the questions never stopped (as a teacher that’s an amazing feeling). I was so impressed by there creativity, ideas and how they pushed themselves. It was very clear that they wanted to learn and soak up as much information as possible. I was genuinely excited and happy to see them making and enjoying it and I wouldn’t be surprised one bit if a couple of them decided to start there own brands one day.

Overall I had a wonderful experience in Saudi Arabia. It was the complete opposite of what I thought it would be and I am grateful to have had the opportunity that Ithra provided me. From the people, the food and overall culture this was a great experience and I really hope to have this opportunity again for myself and friends in the shoe community in the future. I think many of us can offer something different to Saudi and make the experience for those who want to learn better and better.

Thank you again to my Students for attending the workshop, Ithra and all the wonderful people I met over those 6 days. This was an experience that I will always remember. Cheers.

Here are some of the final products…

The Gumbo Sneaker

March 18, 2019 by omar bailey

Deep in the southern United States in the territory of Louisiana the dish known as gumbo is as popular as they come. Often mixed with a combination of meats, seafood and vegetables Gumbo can be taken into variety of directions. Whither it’s base is Sausage or Ham or contains ingredients from Germany or Africa, Gumbo is the perfect representation of food balance. The inspiration behind the gumbo shoe all starts with the ingredients. My library of materials and components is a representation of items that I have been collected from Brazil, to China to Italy and beyond. Simply, I just wanted to use what I had already available on hand to create something cool and a lot of fun.

The Ingredients...

I remember a couple of years ago in Dubai walking through Level Shoes (a very popular shoe store in the Dubai mall) and seeing a pair of dark turquoise Christian Loubiton men’s sneakers and falling in love with that color and I could never find any leather matching that color since, until one random summer day at Global leather in Manhattan, NYC were I found a small swatch that lead me to a much larger one. I bought the skin immediately and tucked it away swearing to myself that one day I will use it.

In 2013 I was working on a project designing sneakers for a client of which many of the styles offered straps but it was still unclear what kind of facetner we would used to secure them. While in Brazil working on the development of the collection we stumbled across some amazing hardware and magnetic fasteners which i purchased a few and set aside for a rainy day. My vision was to one day create a strap that was reflective of the Rasheed Wallace Air Force one’s which featured a webbed strap that Rasheed never fastened while hooping, and that unfastened strap became a visual que that every hooper around the world wanted to duplicate.

When you have been in the shoe business as long as I have you are able to get your hands on things that is sometimes impossible for the average person to get, and I will leave It at that. About 18 meters of Louise Vuitton leather will do the trick and leave me plenty of leftovers to do some cooking with down the road. So like a good chief gathering the ingredients to make a great pot of Gumbo in the Bayou, I to gathered all my Ingredients in preparation to cook up a feast.

Using the pattern for my signature sneaker the Tyndaris Hi, my objective was to blend a unique combination of colors, materials and hardware into a culinary explosion that can be worn on your feet...This is the Gumbo sneaker by Omar Bailey.

see more of the gumbo sneaker here

Trust the process

January 18, 2019 by omar bailey

Process, process, process...a word that here frequently and often in the shoe business and now a days in the business of the NBA. All joking aside the process of building the perfect sample is just that. It takes time and can cost a lot of money to build a sample exactly the way you want.

It’s easy to get spoiled by the amazing final products that we see from brands like Nike and designers like Christian Louboutin. What most don’t realize is the amount of time and energy that goes into creating a consistent development processes that will eventually produce your samples. What I mean when I say consistent development process is that when your creating a shoe the repetition of making and perfecting your pattern is what’s required to creating a consistently good product.

Development is what I like to call “Heavy Lifting” because you have do all the things that are not fun. Whether it’s making a pattern for the 10th time, or the mould factory making a crucial mistake on your custom outsole this is what comes with the territory of developing a shoe. Almost more often then not development always cost more than you initially plan. If your mould supplier says the cost is $3000 it will end up being $5000, this is just the way the shoe biz is and it’s something you have to be ready for.

In this post I want to walk through the process from start to finish by using images from a past project were I had to manage the design, sourcing, and development for a pair of custom sneaker samples that we created in my NYC based shop.

Christian-Louboutin-Sneaker-Collection-For-SportyHenri.com2_.jpg

Last comes first as I am sure you may have heard myself say or my good mate Daniel Bailey from concept kicks. The fact is this is very true, and before you start designing a new style its wise to at the very least have a last shape in mind that would like your shoe to be built on.

The easiest way to do this is by looking at shoes that are on the market. Its the most effective and cheapest way to have a factory make your last by physically sending them a reference shoe to build your last from. Above are some shoe shapes that the client had in mind that wanted to follow.

The most difficult thing to do with projects like this is to communicate in a way were you are understanding what the client wants and making them understand how you plan on executing it. Above is a series of design concepts that I shared with the customer based on there creative direction communicated to me. I like to take there direction and interpret it the way I see fit, then once the first round of renderings are done it is much easier for the both of us to communicate on the creative direction because we now have something visual to reference. Ive learned it much easier for someone to tell you what you they want when they can physically point at it.

Lineart drawing of the final design concept after communicating with the client to understand there idea and what they want the central focus to be.

These are various outsole colors and finishes for the client to choose from that they would like to go forward with.

This is the final outsole design confirmed by the client. Once they have given the green light on the concept then the next stage is to develop the moulds and produce the soles so they can be used for sampling.

The first step in the next stage is to make the blueprint of the sole. The blueprint is the mould Factorys guide to producing the steal injection mould that will be spitting out these soles at a high rate. These drawings are calculated and need to be close to final product measurements as possible.

Based on the outsole specs the next step is to make a wood mould version of the sole. We use the wood mould to check and make any corrections to the sole before we commit to the design to open the mould because once the mould is open you cannot make any further changes.

First look at the pattern being transferred to the taped up Last

Meanwhile, as the moulds are being developed we are back in the shop preparing to start the patterns beginning with transferring the lines from the 2D drawings to the Last that we will use to make the patterns and the samples.

Final tape up drawing before we start making the paper patterns.

First look at the paper pattern based on the tape up drawing from the Last.

First pullover sample including pattern corrections that we wanted to make.

Second pullover after we implemented the pattern corrections from the first.

Final pattern pieces cut and ready to be stitched

Laser cut collar detail ready to be stitched to the upper.

Uppers Lasted and now going through the finishing process.

The finished process is completed and the upper is cemented and dying now only waiting for the sole to be applied.

First look at the sole out of the production mould.

Meanwhile as the upper is being prepared, back at the outsole factory they have finished the mould. The next step is for the outsole factory to prepare the soles following our specs for the colors and finishes that we referenced. Once the soles are ready they will ship them to our shop were will complete the assembly of the samples.

After all of those steps we are now ready to finish the samples by adding the outsole. Time can be your worst enemy in footwear development and Its virtually impossible to predict exactly how long each part of the process will take regardless if you have done it a thousand times before or not. Just always keep in mind that if you want to have a great product you have to see the development through to the end no matter how much time it takes and during the development period Its important to be patient, make adjustments were you can and most importantly trust the process.

Supreme Court

November 26, 2018 by omar bailey

It’s easy to assume that large brands have the resources and infrastructure to simply do whatever they want when they want. Believe it or not, that is not always the case and more often than not big brands call on little guys such as myself for a helping hand.

I tell people all the time I don’t consider myself a sneaker head and I’m definitely not a skater but if you work within the streetwear community or your just a fan of streetwear culture it’s tough to ignore the explosion of growth that Supreme has experienced over the last 10+ years.

If you have been following the Kicks Factory IG over the last year or so every now and then you will see those classic all red Supreme slides pop up on my feed from time to time. If you haven’t figured it out I’m the dude that made them. Please allow me to explain:

In 2013, I was contracted by supreme to develop this idea they had for a slide. Until this point in time supreme has only done collaborations with shoe company’s which means they never had to worry about developing there shoe samples because they were collaborating with brands who had there own shoe factorys and sample rooms.

To my knowledge this was there first time really developing and producing there own footwear product from A to Z. So If that’s the case then it’s safe to assume they probably don’t have an in house footwear developer to manage this project, and that’s were I come in.

Once I got this project I realized pretty quickly how big this could be. Before we started they sent me a drawing and then we went over the timelines, deadlines and goals. I had 8 months to develop the final confirmation samples for the black and red slides and to complete 10,000 pairs for production (5k Black/5k Red). The goal was that we would ship 2000 pairs to London, 2000 pairs to Tokyo and split the last 6000 between Los Angeles and NYC of which 400 pairs or so would be for editorial purposes (Hypebeast, Complex and others), and giveaways to friends and family.

8 months sounds like plenty of enough time to develop a slide...how hard can that be? There just slides you say. Think again! Supreme really liked the classic Adidas 3 stripe slide and that was the base they wanted to use. So they shipped to my office about 12 pairs all in different sizes so we could measure the Last size for each pair. This technique is used when attempting to create your own sizing. Sizing in footwear is a very complicated process and it’s just simply easier to copy someone else’s. This is an example of the “invisible stuff” you don’t see when shoes are being made that can save a brand tens of thousand of dollars in the long run.

Supreme was very clear that they did not want a Velcro or leather strap and they wanted it to be clean with no stitches, so I suggested to them we make a custom TPU strap mould which is a great option. The whole time they were concerned about there customers and delivering something different which I can respect.

TPU moulds are great options however they are expensive and because we are making many different sizes this also means there needs to be a strap mould per size to accommodate the total amount of sizes. In addition to the strap mould we also created a custom outsole and that also required 1 mould pair per size. In the end supreme spent well over $50,000 in tooling cost on this 1 time product release. Crazy!!!

If you look at the outsole of the sandal there is repeat pattern of stars. Supreme wanted those stars to be as small as possible but we continued to run into the issue of air bubbles in the stars that was almost impossible to eliminate without increasing the size of the pattern. The simple way to put it is when your pressure injecting a pasty like material into a large mould that has tons of small “nooks” within it, that material is not going to fill every nook. So we corrected it a few times and after explaining this over and over again to supreme we finally came to a compromise once they realized that getting the star pattern 100% filled was not possible.

I mentioned previously that the strap was TPU moulded. The straps would come out as sheets in one color then the supreme logo would be computer painted in white. TPU could not be moulded in two colors at that time ( I say at that time because the technology is always evolving). The strap would be laser cut then cemented to the outsole and the Last would be inserted to give it the perfect shape.

It wouldn’t be fare to tell this story without addressing a small issue with the sandals post production. For those who purchased the slides and experienced a separation issue with the strap, this was because of the lining material we were asked to add to the strap that were against adding. There was a “felt like” material that was added to the underside of the strap that we were not in love with but we did as we were told and this is what led to some of the separation issues that many customers experienced. It was definitely unfortunate but these things do happen sometimes. I think supreme handled it well and we still had a successful launch of the product. All 10,000 pairs sold out in less 30 minutes world wide on —-date—- and the rest is history. Maybe they will want to do a re-release in the future, we’ll see. 😉

It was a pleasure to work on such a prestigious project although it was not easy and I’ve learned over my last 15 years in this business that theses are the type of projects that make you better, faster and stronger.

Sneaker Travels

November 06, 2018 by omar bailey

It’s not often that I travel much within the United States and I’ve gotten so used to the “long haul” flight to countries with 10+ hour time differences from NYC it seems a bit strange to me to fly only a few hours away. Typically I will go back home to Florida for a visit or LA from time to time, but the stars really aligned on this latest trip for me to hit up 3 different city’s to take care of some shoe business and also enjoy a little pleasure in the process.

October 19th, Austin Texas

My first stop was Austin Texas for the Formula 1 Grand Prix circuit of the americas. Romain Grosjean who is a formula 1 driver for the Haas Ferrari team and a big fan of Omar Bailey Footwear sneakers invited me to come down for a one of kind F1 experience. I’ve never been to an event quite like this before so I had no idea what to expect, but it was very clear to me the magnitude of the event once I arrived to the Fairmont hotel and saw the likes of celebrities such as Mathew Mcconaughey, Chris Bosh, and Gale King (who were all there to support Lewis Hamilton). As a guest of Romain I was given garage and lounge passes which basically gives you the license to do and go anywhere you want (except for the paddock club). I’ve watched a few races on television but what you don’t see on TV is all the work happening behind the scenes. As a developer of footwear and working in factory’s all over I really appreciated seeing all the work that goes into the smallest of details. From the Pirelli crew delivering tires to the individual race teams to the guy in garage who’s job is to always keep the car clean, there is no stone unturned in a formula 1 garage. The biggest thing that stood out to me was how modular everything was because once this race is over “everything” from the tents that served as the team lounge, to the garage walls have to be broken down, packed and loaded on a 747 cargo plane so it can be delivered to the next city for the following race. This part to me was just mind blowing.

As for the F1 experience itself it was fantastic from seeing the cars, mingling with the drivers and meeting new people. I’ve been fortunate enough in the past to be invited to other sports related events and one thing you can always count on is meeting new people in the business world and I always take those opportunities to network and build new bridges because you never know how things will play out in the future.

Unfortunately Romain did not finish the race Sunday and got into a fender bender with Fernando Alonzo that forced him to retire after 2 laps. I felt terrible for him and his team who worked so hard all week to prepare for the race. He didn’t leave empty handed however, as I gifted him with a fresh pair of Omar Bailey sneakers from my FW18 collection that he wore all weekend and seemed to really enjoy. What an incredible experience and I can’t wait to do it again.

As for my future business with F1 driver Romain Grosjean, you will just have to wait and see what we have up our sleeves for the near future.

October 22nd, Los Angeles, California

After a great weekend in Austin it was now time to make my way to my old hood Los Angeles, CA for the FDRA (Footwear Distributors and Retailers of America) conference. I love Southern California and is a place I called home on 2 different occasions. The first time I lived In So Cal was in 2004 when I was a footwear design intern for K-Swiss in Westlake Village and the second time was in 2005-06 when I worked for a footwear design firm in Newport Beach living in Fullerton and Laguna Hills over that time (Laguna Hills was much nicer).

The FDRA conference was in Long Beach but I wanted to spend a few days in the LA area first to visit friends and family. After visiting my sister I dropped by the No-One system shop in Venice to catch up with Mark Gainor. It always good seeing fellow shoe makers and brand owners doing there thing and learning a thing or two about there process and how they do things when it comes to shoe making.

My next stop was to visit the Q4 Sports headquarters and co-founder Quinton Williams in Inglewood. It’s amazing to see what this young man has done in such a short period of time. Building a shoe brand is hard, and building a basketball shoe brand is even harder and he is really doing it. I really wish him all the best and I love watching this brand grow.

After a good couple of days in LA it’s time to head down to the LBC. The FDRA conference was held at the Renaissance Hotel in downtown Long Beach. The night I arrived to the hotel they organized a great event in the bar area for everyone participating in the conference to mingle with colleagues and make new friends. It’s always good seeing old faces like Nico Van-Enter and meeting new friends like Aki Choklat (head of design at CCS) amongst the many others that was at the event.

The next day was the conference and my roll was as a guest speaker on a panel with Jordi Montaner of K-tech and Dwayne Edwards of Pensole with MC Nicoline Van-Enter of footwearist. The panel was called Design beyond boarders and was a round table discussion of our experiences as creators abroad. I shared a lot of my experience working in India as the creative director for Lotto amongst many things. In addition, we discussed a lot of interesting topics and it is important we share these things with everyone and most importantly the young people. After speaking with a few students who were at the event it sounded like our experience abroad (specifically in China and India) really resonated with them. I do hope they are able to make it and have that eye opening experience as it was for me when I went for my first development trip more than 10 years ago.

How can I forget to mention Dwayne Edwards. It’s always a pleasure seeing him when I can. I remember long before Pensole was even around when I was an intern at Adidas in PDX I used to go hangout at the Nike campus with Dwayne Edwards, E-Scott Morris, Octavio Lubrano, Wilson Smith, Michael Ditullo and my old college buddy Jason Mayden (founder of Super Heroic). I was very lucky to be around those heavy hitters in the shoe game and I still cherish those memory’s today. I remember D always talking about retiring early and starting a school and I could see he was serious about it. Now Pensole is on another level and doing so many good things for young people. As for being an intern at Adidas and hanging out at

Nike! that was easy. My best friend was also an intern at Nike during that time and I would pose as a Nike intern with him when I wanted to get on campus.

All in all the FDRA conference was a success and I look forward to seeing it grow and getting more participants in the future. The only suggestion I would make is that it be the same week of Complexcon. It would have been great to have the two events the same week. Other than that it was a great event and I learned a lot about what the FDRA does for the footwear industry when it comes to importing tariffs, policy’s, and more.

Oct 25th, Boulder, Colorado

After a great trip and great weather in LA it’s time to head to Boulder, CO for an important 3 days with a potential new client. I’ve never been to boulder before but I have heard a lot from my now wife over the years who is CU graduate. Unfortunately, I can’t really tell you much about the brand that I met with but what I can say is that I was very impressed with everything that I saw. From there staff, products, and customer service they are a brand that is well on there way to big things. My last day in Boulder I got the opportunity to go to a CU football game with some friends. We started with some good ole fashion tail gating and playing corn hole before heading to our seats that we were hooked up with through a close family friend and even at one point we got to go down to the field and watch the game from there as well. I definitely don’t take those moments for granted and I try to soak it all in when these things do happen.

Oct 28th, Brooklyn, NY

Now that I am back in my office and able to reflect on my trip I look at it as a great success. Anytime you are able to travel and be around quality people while taking care of business is always a win win in my book. I hope you enjoyed my recap of my recent business trip. Feel free to leave a comment.

Sole Bodegas

November 02, 2018 by omar bailey

Similar to a convenience store a.k.a. Bodega as we call them here in New York City, sole bodegas (as I like to call them) can be an incredible resource to footwear designers and brands. First, let’s start with how you find these gems which I get asked all the time. Guangzhou, China has one of the largest outsole markets that I have ever seen and despite how big it is none of these bodegas have websites, IG pages, twitter accounts, etc...which means the only way to see what’s available is by seeing it in person which can obviously get expensive to fly around the world and search these shoe markets that can be difficult to navigate if you don’t speak the local language or have friends that can assist you. To be completely honest with you, I like the fact that these places are not that accessible and can sometimes be a mystery to learn about. What’s impressive to me is when someone figures out how to crack the “da vinci” code on there own as I did when I was starting out in the shoe biz.

It’s no secret that brands and designers like to use existing outsoles but the problem is when everyone is using the same existing sole it can leave a bad taste in your mouth. Why does this happen you ask? I think it’s because 1) brands like to copy each other, especially when something in particular is selling very well. If this is news to you then you have a lot to learn. Most brands copy each other left and right, but its usually the smaller designers who are taking the risk investing time and spending there last dimes to find special outsoles and other components to make there shoes special which can end up getting knocked off in the long run anyway.

2) budget - it’s much cheaper to have someone who’s already in china send you photos of soles to choose from than to fly your designer out to search the market in person. The problem with that is the person on the other end is not you, and they could be sending you reference soles based on shoes that are selling the best in the market when in fact your looking for the complete opposite.

Brands that have smaller budgets and cannot afford to create new outsole moulds every season love sole bodegas and for me personally i love to go “crate digging” and find outsole gems that are unique and different.

When your able to search the market on your own and spend time going shop to shop this really allows you to find those hidden gems that will make the difference between your collection and the next guys (or gals). In my opinion, it’s worth every penny you spend on travel, hotels, and food.

Sole Bodegas can sometimes feel like your in a candy shop. I remember some of my first experiences in these shops and immediately feeling overwhelmed and excited at the same time. You can find just about anything if you look long enough. Some soles will be obvious and others will not, but the key is to have some kind of plan when searching because it can get exhausting.

In the shoe business today the outsole has become the focal point for many brands and each season more and more are investing in there own tooling but for the designers who cannot sole bodegas are still a great option but if you want to find that special sole that has not yet been prostituted by all the big brands I suggest you take a chance, put your money we’re your mouth is and show up and figure it out. Good luck with your search.