#HTE

Review: The Footwear Design Episode of Netflix’s New Design Series

Netflix has released all eight episodes of “Abstract: The Art of Design,” which goes behind the scenes of a variety of creative fields. Since industrial design is an impossibly broad category, we’re treated with not one but two episodes of narrower ID focus: Footwear and automotive. We’ll start our reviews with footwear.

Creator and Executive Producer Scott Dadich has shrewdly opted not to tackle entire fields, which would be impossible to cram into ~45 minutes; instead he trails a luminary from each of the chosen disciplines, allowing them to walk you through their profession and backing them up with supporting interviews and plenty of eye-candy B-roll.

Nike’s Tinker Hatfield is the man here. We get to see, through Hatfield’s eyes, what was essentially the birth of the modern athletic footwear industry, and the influence of athletic coach and Nike co-founder Bill Bowerman. Hatfield, a promising athlete and potential Olympian in his youth, became sidelined by injury and entered design through the side door. Bowerman’s attempt to design a shoe that could compensate for Hatfield’s injury opened the latter’s eyes to the possibilities of using design to solve problems.

“Solving problems” is something you continually hear Hatfield say throughout the episode; for those who think of footwear design as frivolous, it’s eye-opening to hear how, for instance, an NBA player’s feet are “trashed” after ten years on the court as a result of footwear that does not meet their needs. And how do you stop a 220-pound man from rolling his ankle during a crossover? Hatfield’s focus on finding pragmatic solutions for athletes competing at the highest levels drives him, as it drove Bowerman, to take pen to paper.

So does Hatfield’s pure artistry and kinetic energy. This is a man who is always sketching and seemingly always moving; for every shot of Hatfield’s work is more footage of him in motion, hoisting weights, surfing the tide, pushing off on a skateboard, zipping through Portland on a scooter.

Some of the things you’ll learn about the footwear design industry by watching this episode:

- The role of star athletes in challenging perceptions

- How the original Air Max was inspired by Renzo Piano’s Pompidou Center

- How Nike lost crucial ground to Reebok in the ‘80s by overlooking a fitness trend

- Hatfield’s take on the disruptive nature of breakthroughs

- How the “Back to the Future” shoe is actually intended to evolve into something practical and injury-preventing

- Hatfield’s philosophy of using design to provoke, rather than slowly “move the needle”

- The challenges of having to come up with something new year after year

I can’t say much more without giving away the store and/or spoiling the episode for you. If you have Netflix and are a fan of design, whether footwear or non-footwear, you’ve got no excuse not to watch this. If you don’t have Netflix, I’d say this episode alone is a good excuse to take advantage of their free one-month trial.

Here’s the series trailer—the full season released on Friday and is available to watch now:

Up next: A review of the automotive design episode, featuring Ralph Gilles.