Trends and Research
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
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. |
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. |
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 |
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. |
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 | Senior Footwear Designer, with The Footsoldiers since 2011. |
Interests | Football, running, music. |
Favourite Shoe | Nike Air Jordan XI / Nike Ronaldo R9. |
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 | Senior Footwear Designer, with The Footsoldiers since 2011. |
Interests | Cycling, footwear. |
Favourite Shoe | Nike Air Jordan 1 BRED / Adidas Predator (Original). |
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 | Senior Footwear Designer, with The Footsoldiers since 2012. |
Interests | Sport, documentries, music. |
Favourite Shoe | Adidas Predator Accelerator. |
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 | 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. |
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. |
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 | Visual Artist, with The Footsoldiers since 2016. |
Interests | Drawing, games, music, football. |
Favourite Shoe | Nike Air Max 90. |