Portland is sneaker country, everybody knows that. Nike was founded here and it’s home to adidas’ American headquarters. Plus there’s a whole ecosystem of brands feeding the Pacific Northwest’s ravenous hunger for outdoor sports like Columbia, KEEN, Leatherman and Under Armour.
But what goes under the radar to outsiders is the vast amount of product design, development and material science talent that makes this industry go. People come from all over the world to chase a dream in sneaker design, or to pursue innovative ideas about material recycling and repurposing.
This spirit of innovation is on full display every year during Sneaker Week, an annual event series powered by Prosper Portland’s Athletic & Outdoor initiative.
One such event took place in August of 2023 at Theory, the restaurant and event space inside the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry.
The discussion was lively, as designers and industry vets representing organizations like On, Allbirds, the University of Oregon and Gravity Sketch came together to talk about how cutting edge techniques are being deployed to make footwear stronger, more recyclable and better looking.
When Human Centric Media documents an industry event like this, our eyes and lenses are trained to look for the passion – the fire inside each of these professionals that keeps them motivated and engaged.
It’s a deeply relatable quality, regardless of whether you love sneakers or not. Chasing a dream and trying to bring a vision to the masses takes teamwork and grit, and events like these form the connections that make that effort possible.
This community is home to such a wellspring of ideas and some of the best of them are rather stylish.
