MEL

“There is an immense pride in walking down the street and seeing someone in a product you’ve designed.”

Mel Cohen - Shoe Designer

What set you on the path to becoming a shoe designer?
Mel. I came through quite a classic route of being a creative young person interested in art, drawing and design. I was more interested in visual arts like film and photography when I left school, but I soon realised I wanted to pursue design.

My dad was a tailor, so making is in my blood; I have very early memories of being in the factory, sitting on the knees of the stitchers and being fascinated by it all, even the smells.

I had started a Film Course, but partway through it, I realised I wanted to go into Fashion Design. I got on to an Art Foundation course and was very much inspired. There was an amazing tutor there; she was missing the three middle fingers on one hand. I’d watch her pick up a piece of chalk between her thumb and little finger and do the most amazing drawings. I still think about her today.

I need things to be three-dimensional; my mind has a way of exploding objects; she recognised that in me and suggested I work with something 3D; shoes were the obvious route. I love shoes; everybody does.

After Art College, I did a degree in footwear design. At the time, there was only one course in the UK in Leicester, a traditional old shoe-making town; there are still some factories left there. I remember people making fun of me about my silly degree, but it paid off; I’ve been a shoe designer for 25 years.

There were just ten of us on the course; we were set design projects with a brief, including women’s, men’s and kids. We learned how to cut patterns and make shoes with a technician. She helped us to finish our shoes when we made our final pieces for our collection; it is hard to sew a shoe together. The design tutors were all from industry backgrounds with varied experiences, which was incredibly valuable.

What is the next step after graduation?

Mel. My first job was at a supplier. Most fashion brands work with suppliers who design and manufacture the collections for them. The brand itself would provide trend information and then leave you to it. Those initial jobs are more about gaining experience and skills; the industry often doesn’t pay much for those roles. As I got more experience, I could present myself to an employer with confidence to get that next better job.

I joined Topshop in the mid-noughties, their heyday of being the coolest high street brand. They dressed the most stylish women globally and were on top of their game. That job was all about being the quickest with trends; we would call it ‘first to market.’ It was fast-paced, diverse and loads of fun. One minute, I’d be working on a catwalk show that Katie Grand would be styling. And then the next day, I’d be designing a shoe that would be £30, and we’d sell 4,000 pairs per week. It was flattering to see so many people wearing my designs.

It was a different time, though; the way people shop and consume is changing for the better, and we’re all becoming more conscious. We didn’t talk about fast fashion back then. It’s a conversation I have a lot with the people I used to work with at Topshop. The industry in the late nineties and early 2000s was shouting, consume! Topshop was the flag bearer of that way of shopping. Now, everyone is reducing and trying to find sustainable materials.

I don’t think the women who ran that business or any of those businesses lacked ethics. They weren’t sitting around going, let’s destroy the planet. They sat around saying, this is great; all these women love shopping here. We are creating something empowering, and women love coming into this shop and walking away with a great pair of shoes, jeans, and a great top. All their friends are envious. That’s how the cycle worked.

I worked at Topshop for about ten years. By then, the energy had changed, and the whole business didn’t feel that good anymore. Phillip Green was heavily involved, and you could feel the demise. I left and took a job with Office. As well as designing shoes, I oversaw additional creative stuff; we did a Zine at one point. I used to art direct the campaign shoots, adding something new and interesting to my job. It all adds strings to your bow.

“I’ve always created a muse, someone real or fictional; I don’t design the shoes for me. If I designed it for me, it wouldn’t work!”

I work for a supplier again today. It’s a big organisation based in China, and they make shoes for everybody; I design shoes for the most recognisable high street brands. The product I design is fun and creative but commercial; we create shoes to fit a trend and supply them to brands for them to make money. There is something in that statement: if you know what you’re doing, you can make money. I am the creative arm of a successful and wealthy business which makes shoes in volume for those brands. It’s not necessarily cool, but it is definitely clever.

What is the process of designing a new collection?

Mel. It always starts with research and trends. Compared with the start of my career, we now have the internet! I spend time researching what brands are doing online and in retail stores. You read how trends are morphing and changing. We use a combination of sales data alongside emerging trends to plan the collection. What’s new, what still feels relevant from last year, and what will be the next big thing? There’s always a shift in energy regarding what people buy: the shapes, styles, and heels. So that’s where I’ll start.

We often buy samples from other designers and brands to build the start of a new collection. We might like the toe shape from one sample and a heel from another and create something entirely new from that starting point. Then I prolifically sketch!

The most challenging collections to design are the seasonal transitions. For example, when it is not quite summer yet, but the customer is looking for something new. It can’t be a summer shoe with an open toe, as it’s still cold! Once you get into the season, you know it will be all about boots in winter and sandals in summer. That formula always stays the same; then, it’s just about what the trends are for that season.

Every brand, even those on the high street, is looking for sustainable options now. We are sourcing materials that are recycled and recyclable. We constantly look at our packaging and try to find more eco-shipping alternatives. There’s no easy solution; honestly, I am not sure making anything in volume can be sustainable.

“You need to keep the tank fuelled for ideas, and sometimes, you need to get out and see what other people are doing. Magazines and internet research don’t always do it. Sometimes I go to London, wander around shops, and see what people wear. I sit on a bench on the street and watch people’s feet go by.”

So, you live and work in Rye and occasionally commute to London. That sounds like the best of both worlds.

Mel. I decided it was time to leave London; I left a big job, Kurt Geiger, and started freelancing. I had many different clients, but I could work from home more, so I sold my place and moved to Rye. Then COVID happened, and all those jobs disappeared, apart from one, the company I work for now. I had been doing a couple of days a week for them, and then they asked me to come on board full-time.

What I love about my job is the variety. It’s super diverse because of the vast portfolio of brands that we make for. Some of those brands have very strong design teams, so they come to us with a clear idea of what they want, and we fulfil a brief. Some brands need our expertise more, so I guide them, feed them what I think they need, and reach the design together. It is great to be trusted for your experience, knowledge and history working in the business.

Mel Cohen
Shoe Designer