PUMA Vixen (Footwear and CMF) — shannon's portfolio

pROBLEM STATEMENT

Historically, women soccer has faced a long journey of inequity. They often faced neglect and less recognition than men soccer.

Development on women soccer cleats has been neglected.

Through my research I also found out the sad reality of “shrink it and pink it”, a method to shrink men's cleats and give it a ‘woman’ color without woman-specific research and design.

WOMEN VS MEN SOCCER

Based on soccer games that I watch, I observe that women play with finesse, while men play with explosiveness

BIOMECHANICS

Looking at the biomechanics of male and female feet, female feet look more triangular and male look rectangular. This will affect the shape of the last.

RETAIL STORE OBSERVATION

Because Female have wider hips, they have bigger Q angle, this could create a valgus alignment when doing aggressive movements that’s prone to ACL injury. Their center of gravity is also located in their hips, more stress are on their knees.

Location: Pro Soccer - Pasadena

•Nike and Adidas are the most popular brands among women

•Fewer options for soccer cleats below size 7

Conclusion: not a lot of options for women

PERSONAL EXPERIENCE

This is my personal experience playing soccer for the first time using the Puma Ultra, after playing I got blisters and my ankle feels numb, and that’s because I don’t play soccer that often. But I found out about the point of contact when kicking a ball, where you can use your instep area and knuckleball.

INTERVIEWS

VALUE PROPOSITION

BRAINSTORM IDEAS

3D SCAN

I’ve watched a couple of soccer matches in person, studied women’s biomechanics, learned about the components of soccer cleats, to ideate on multiple design directions focusing on the athletes’ performance, comfort, and style.

INJURY PREVENTION

For injury prevention, since women’s center of gravity is located in their hips, they are more prone to ACL as they tend to land more in valgus alignment.

So my approach is to create an inside lining system with micro springs that work as an additional muscle to help with knee alignment. I ideate on the placement position of this inside lining system.

PERFORMANCE

For performance, I’m focusing on the stud patterns in the outsole. By following the sprinting motion of a forward player, the pressure is higher at the ball of the foot, so I place the studs in that area with the bladed studs to give more speed and to be able to grab on to the pitch aggressively. The heels are hybrid studs for stability when the athlete stops and strike a goal.

PERSONALIZATION

This idea is about personalized fitment for each athlete, so I found this 4D knit dress where they use a special yarn that could react to heat. The videos show how it works, and I see this method being applied to footwear by having the upper use the special yarn and have the machine heat it to give 100% accurate fitment

MOCKUPS

I created three different mockups with all of them having the same outsole. I really like design A, and I made customizations for the final.

CMF DESIGN

FINAL DESIGN

The cleat will come together using a bolt system that will hold the outsole and insole together. That way, at its end of life, the shoe will be able to be disassembled at the manufacturing factory and each material will be able to be recycled because most of the materials are thermoplastics. The cleats could also be disassembled and repaired.

HOW IT’S MADE

MODELING

PERSONALIZED SHOE LAST

To give it extra personalization, the shoe last that I built the model of is based on my foot shape, first I 3D scan my foot, tweak an existing shoe last based on my foot shape, and print the personalized last. I can see this advanced technology being used by pro athletes, to help them reach peak performance.