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.

Alejandra Paredes
Sr. Operations Manager

Place of Birth	Born in Cali, Colombia
Background	Studied Fashion Design Foundation course and after a Fashion Business BA at Istituto Marangoni London. Joined We are Talent as part time Events and Hospitality Manager. Afterwards Joined Sé Interior Design as a Logistics and Operations Assistant.
Role	Senior Operations Manager, with The Footsoldiers since 2018.
Interests	Food, Travel, Cooking, Gymnastics
Favourite Shoe	Nike Free Flyknit 3.0, Valentino Rockstud leather sandals

Harry Brickwood
Design Director

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 Director, with The Footsoldiers since 2012.
Interests	Art, film, travel, music.
Favourite Shoe	Vans Old Skool, Jordan XI, Jordan Future.

Rob Haddock
Sr. Footwear Designer II

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).

Charlie Astrella
Sr. Footwear Designer II

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	Senior Footwear Designer, with The Footsoldiers since 2016.
Interests	Drawing, games, music, football.
Favourite Shoe	Nike Air Max 90.

David Dooley
Sr. Footwear Designer II

Place of Birth	Born in North Yorkshire, England.
Background	Studied Footwear Design at De Montfort University and Royal College of Art, graduating in 2008. Began an internship at Puma before moving on to work with other brands such as Ben Sherman and Le Coq Sportif, based in Paris.
Role	Senior Footwear Designer, with The Footsoldiers since 2021.
Interests	Music, travel, basketball, Yorkshire Tea
Favourite Shoe	Adidas KB8 (97’), Nike Air Moc.

Sandra Plantos
Sr. Footwear Designer I

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	Senior 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.

George Hodson Walker
Sr. Footwear Designer I

Place of Birth	Born in Burton-upon-Trent, England
Background	Studied Product Design at Coventry University of which involved a placement year at FILA UK as an accessories design intern. Joined The Footsoldiers as a Design Intern in 2016.
Role	Senior Footwear Designer, with The Footsoldiers since 2016.
Interests	Football, golf, cricket... any sport.
Favourite Shoe	Adidas Predator Mania (FG)

Elisa Smaniotto
Sr. Footwear Designer I

Place of Birth	Born in Castelfranco Veneto, Italy.
Background	Studied in a specialised school of arts in Italy and moved to the UK after graduation. Proceeded to study BA (Hons) at UAL Cordwainers Footwear Design and Innovation. Soon after graduating, interned and worked at SWEAR London before joining The Footsoldiers.
Role	Senior Footwear Designer, with The Footsoldiers since 2019.
Interests	Drawing, tennis, listening to true crime podcasts and watching movies.
Favourite Shoe	Chloé Nama Sneaker, Adidas Forum Low Jeremy Scott Dipped Pink

Martin Francis-Bates
Footwear Designer II

Place of Birth	Born in London, England.
Background	Studied Product Design at Coventry University. Formerly a Footwear Designer at Puma Sportstyle and interned at Adidas Football.
Role	Footwear Designer, with The Footsoldiers since 2022.
Interests	Drawing, games, music, football.
Favourite Shoe	Adidas F50+.

Brandon Haley
Footwear Designer I

Place of Birth	Born in West Yorkshire, England.
Background	Studied Footwear Design at De Montfort University. Started as an intern with The Footsoldiers in 2021 before becoming a permanent member of the team in 2022.
Role	Footwear Designer, with The Footsoldiers since 2021.
Interests	Football, running, bouldering.
Favourite Shoe	Nike ISPA Road Warrior, Nike React Element 87.

Hamish Riley
Footwear Designer I

Place of Birth	Born in Somerset, England.
Background	A tinkerer by nature. Studied BSc Sports Product Design at Brighton University. Began as an intern at The Footsoldiers in 2021 before becoming full-time in 2022.
Role	Footwear Designer, with The Footsoldiers since 2021.
Interests	Making clothes, sports, travelling.
Favourite Shoe	Wallabees, Beckham era Predators.

Oscar Ko
Footwear Designer I

Place of Birth	Born in Taipei, Taiwan.
Background	Holds a BA in Industrial Design from Chaoyang University of Technology and an MA from Central Saint Martins, where the final project was nominated for the LVMH Maison/0 award. Began a footwear design career as an intern with The Footsoldiers in 2018, later joining 361° as a Performance Footwear Designer.
Role	Footwear Designer, with The Footsoldiers since 2021.
Interests	Long-distance running, reading, drawing.
Favourite Shoe	Nike Vaporfly 1, HOKA Speedgoat Series.

Ryan Roddy
Footwear Designer I

Place of Birth	Born in Derry, Ireland.
Background	Studied Footwear Design at De Monfort University. Previously worked at Clarks Originals as a Junior Footwear Designer.
Role	Junior Footwear Designer, with The Footsoldiers since 2023.
Interests	Football, swimming, running, drawing.
Favourite Shoe	Nike Footscape Woven, New Balance 1500, Clarks Originals Wallabee.

Heleen Overbeek
Sr. Footwear Consultant

Place of Birth	Born in Blaricum, the Netherlands
Background	Studied a BA Fashion Design at University of Arts Utrecht and completed cordwainers certifications at the Dutch Shoe Academy. Moved on to study a MA Footwear design at the London College of Fashion, graduated in 2018. Completed an internship at OAT Shoes. Worked as a freelance designer for several years on various projects ranging from footwear design to 3D modelled prosthetics before joining The Footsoldiers.
Role	Footwear Consultant, with The Footsoldiers since 2018
Interests	Food, travel, sustainable fashion & design
Favourite Shoe	Adidas x Parley Alphaedge 4D, United Nude Zaha Nova

Contact

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.

About

Clients

Design

Media

Team

Contact