The Footsoldiers Design Consultancy Ltd

Established in 2009, The Footsoldiers have humbly grown to become one of the largest independent Footwear Design Consultancies in the World. Having built a robust in-house design team comprised of variously skilled individuals, The Footsoldiers handle outdoor, lifestyle and performance design, and cover all genders and ages. Capable of handling large corporate business as well as small independent start-ups, The Footsoldiers have designed for luxury Fashion houses (Alexander McQueen / Hussein Chalyan) as well as designing products for some of the World’s top athletes (Maria Sharapova / Djokovic).

Trends and Research

Design

Techpacks

Sourcing

Product Development

Graphics and Branding

Packaging

Media

POS and Launches

Design

Media

Tom Astrella
Co-founder

Place of Birth	Born in London, England.
Background	Studied Product Design at Middlesex University, graduating in 2003. Began an internship at Puma before moving onto a full time position in 2004, designing footwear across a number of ranges: 96 Hours, Black Label, McQueen and Mainline.
Role	Co-founded The Footsoldiers in 2009, with Hector Rubio.
Interests	Futurism, documentaries, buying things I don’t need.
Favourite Shoe	Nike Air Mag.

Hector Rubio
Co-founder

Place of Birth	Born in Fuenmayor, Spain.
Background	Studied Product Design and Development, specialising in footwear, at Cordwainer’s College at The London College of Fashion. Completed work placements in Spain and China, gaining first hand experience of manufacturing processes. Worked for French Connection, Ben Sherman, Te Casan and Puma.
Role	Co-founded The Footsoldiers in 2009, with Tom Astrella.
Interests	Family, travel, music, football.
Favourite Shoe	Nike Air Max 90 / New Balance 1300.

Harry Brickwood
Design Manager

Place of Birth	Born in Berkshire, England.
Background	Studied Graphic Design in Bath. Ultimately decided to follow his passion and in 2003 began working in the footwear industry for Dr Marten’s. After a brief stint at license company GBMI, Harry joined Puma in 2008, working for the Blackstation Design team in London. Whilst there he met Tom and Hector and together they collaborated on numerous fashion and lifestyle footwear projects.
Role	Design Manager, with The Footsoldiers since 2012.
Interests	Art, film, travel, music.
Favourite Shoe	Vans Old Skool / Jordan XI / Jordan Future

Jack Astrella
Accounts Manager

Place of Birth	Born in London, England.
Background	Studied A-Level Maths, History and Computing. Joined The Footsoldiers in 2014 to assist with accounting and office administration. Left The Footsoldiers and completed the first year of the Association of Accounting Technicians at Moore Stephens LLP. Rejoined The Footsoldiers to focus on accounts.
Role	Accounts Manager, with The Footsoldiers since 2014.
Interests	Arsenal FC, games, darts.
Favourite Shoe	Adidas Adipure 11Pro

Libby Arnold
Sr. Footwear Designer

Place of Birth	Born in London, England.
Background	Studied Footwear design at Cordwainer’s College at the London College of Fashion. Joined luxury shoe brand Jimmy Choo as a design intern and followed this up with another design internship with avant-garde footwear brand FINSK. Joined The Footsoldiers for a third internship in 2011 before moving to a junior role at G-Star Raw. Returned to The Footsoldiers as a full-time member in 2013.
Role	Senior Footwear Designer, with The Footsoldiers since 2011.
Interests	Fashion, travel, keeping fit.
Favourite Shoe	Manolo Blahnik 'Hangisi' Jewelled Pump / Valentino Rockstud Heels / Reebok Classic.

Tom Matic
Sr. Footwear Designer

Place of Birth	Born in Northampton, England.
Background	Studied Automative Design at Coventry University. Began working for The Footsoldiers in 2011 but in 2012 moved to Manchester following an opportunity to work on performance products for Umbro. Came back to The Footsoldiers in 2013.
Role	Footwear Designer, with The Footsoldiers since 2011.
Interests	Football, running, music.
Favourite Shoe	Nike Air Jordan XI / Nike Ronaldo R9.

Rob Haddock
Footwear Designer

Place of Birth	Born in Lancashire, England.
Background	Moved to London from Blackpool to study Footwear Design at Cordwainer’s College at the London College of Fashion. Completed degree in 2012, after spending a year on work placement with The Footsoldiers. Joined The Footsoldiers and is the longest serving member after Tom and Hector.
Role	Footwear Designer, with The Footsoldiers since 2011.
Interests	Cycling, footwear.
Favourite Shoe	Nike Air Jordan 1 BRED / Adidas Predator (Original).

Tom Weightman
Footwear Designer

Place of Birth	Born in London, England.
Background	Completed an Art Foundation course at the London College of Communication. Moved on to study Footwear Design at Cordwainer’s College at The London College of Fashion. Worked for Puma in Nuremburg, Germany during the third year of his degree broadening his knowledge of performance and lifestyle footwear.
Role	Footwear Designer, with The Footsoldiers since 2012.
Interests	Sport, documentries, music.
Favourite Shoe	Adidas Predator Accelerator.

Natasha Creaton
Footwear Designer

Place of Birth	Born in Northampton, England.
Background	Studied Footwear Product Design and Development at Cordwainer’s College at The London College of Fashion. Worked for Kat Maconie on placement in 2012, as a Footwear Designer. Joined The Footsoldiers after graduating from Cordwainer’s College in 2013.
Role	Footwear Designer, with The Footsoldiers since 2013.
Interests	Running, keeping fit, art, travel.
Favourite Shoe	Vans Sk8 Mid Moc

Jawad Braye
Footwear Designer

Place of Birth	Born in Kenya.
Background	Moved to the UK in 1999 to pursue a career in design. Studied Footwear Design at Cordwainer’s College at the London College of Fashion. Completed a design internship in Munich, at basketball lifestyle footwear brand K1X before graduating and joining Japanese denim brand Evisu, in London. After three years moved to Paris to begin working as a freelance designer.
Role	Footwear Designer, with The Footsoldiers since 2011.
Interests	Building and restoring old steel bicycles.
Favourite Shoe	Visvim Folk Shaman FBT / Nike Air Jordan 1.

Sandra Plantos
Jr. Footwear Designer

Place of Birth	Born in Romania, raised in Dublin.
Background	Graduated with a Masters in Architecture at University College Dublin, Ireland in 2013. Worked for various architectural practices in Dublin, Barcelona and London. Proceeded to study a Masters in Fashion Footwear at the London College of Fashion in 2014. Winner of The Cordwainers’ Dato Jimmy Choo Award 2015. Upon graduation in 2016, Sandra worked briefly for Designer Mira Mikati, after which she joined The Footsoldiers as Design Intern.
Role	Junior Footwear Designer with The Footsoldiers, since 2016.
Interests	Culinary Connoisseur, Fitness Fanatic, Health Hippie, Fashion Fiend and Sun Seeker.
Favourite Shoe	Stuart Weitzman Over-the-Knee boots / owns a small collection of very ‘lived-in’ Nike gym trainers.

Ana Rubio
Product Designer

Place of Birth	Born in Fuenmayor, Spain.
Background	Moved to England in 2005 and completed an Art and Design Foundation course at the London College of Fashion. Returned to Spain in 2006 to study Product Design at Elisava Design School in Barcelona. After graduating, began working for Anima across a range of disciplines: furniture, lighting, bathroom, appliances, childcare and accessories. Came back to England and joined The Footsoldiers in 2013, specialising in accessories.
Role	Product Designer, with The Footsoldiers since 2013.
Interests	Hand crafting, sewing and pattern design, travel, volunteer work.
Favourite Shoe	Nike Flyknit Lunar

Charlie O'Byrne
Graphic Designer

Place of Birth	Born in Essex, England.
Background	Studied Textiles at the University of West England, specialising in Print Design. Worked for Pentland Brands working for Lacoste, Canterbury and Kickers.
Role	Graphic Designer, with The Footsoldiers since 2015.
Interests	West Ham FC, R’n’B, graphic novels.
Favourite Shoe	Nike Air Max 97 OG.

Charlie Astrella
Graphic Designer

Place of Birth	Born in London, England.
Background	Studied Computer Animation at Teesside University, specialising in character design and pre-production. Worked for seven years as a retoucher, visualiser and CGI artist for various brands including Adidas, Nike, Electronic Arts, Virgin and KFC.
Role	Graphic Designer, with The Footsoldiers since 2016.
Interests	Drawing, games, music, football.
Favourite Shoe	Nike Air Max 90.

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Emerging from an urban, gritty underbelly, Shoreditch has transformed into one of the trendiest and most vibrant artistic areas in the UK. With unexpected street art adorning nearly every surface and populated with destination retail stores and pop-ups, there is inspiration to be found in every corner. For this reason, in 2010, we made Shoreditch our base of operations.Should you need to contact us regarding a potential project or you have an inquiry regarding employment or internships, we would love to hear from you: please contact us using the details below. Visits to The Footsoldiers design studio are strictly by appointment only.

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