ai-native footwear design sprint

july 11/12 & 18/19
5:00pm - 8:30pm cest
emea/americas edition
AI-Native Footwear Design Sprint is a live intensive edition of AI Augmented Footwear Designer, designed for footwear professionals who want to build a complete AI-powered 2D & 3D design workflow in four focused studio sessions divided over two weekends.

You will move from research and concept direction to visuals, CMF, product series, 3D development support, and final presentation — not just generating images, but learning how to use AI to enhance your capabilities in ways that were not possible before.
This edition is ideal for the EMEA/Americas timezones:
If these times are not ideal for you, check out our Asia Pacific Edition.
(Northern) Europe:
UK and Portugal: 
UAE / Gulf:
Turkey:
South Africa:
East Coast USA:
Central USA:
Mexico:
West Coast USA:
Brazil / Argentina

5pm - 8:30pm
4pm - 7:30pm
7pm - 10:30pm
5pm - 8:30pm
6pm - 9:30 pm
11am - 2:30pm
10am - 1.30pm
9am - 12:30pm
8am - 11:30am
12pm - 3:30pm

is this course for you?

AI-Native Footwear Design Sprint is the live intensive version of AI Augmented Footwear Designer — created for footwear professionals who want to learn fast.
Over two immersive weekends, you will go full force into AI-powered footwear design: from research and concept direction to image generation, CMF, product series creation, development support, and final presentation.

This is not a passive course. It is a hands-on design sprint where participants work directly on their own project throughout the program, allowing them to immediately apply the workflows and methods to their own professional practice.

In just four live sessions, you will learn how to build structured, repeatable AI-native design workflows that help you:
  • expand your research and thinking process
  • create sharper design briefs
  • enhance ideation and creativity
  • improve concept quality and consistency
  • create stronger presentations
  • communicate ideas more effectively across teams in both 2D and 3D
The sprint is intended for footwear design professionals only — from junior designers to senior creatives, freelancers, consultants, product developers, and innovation teams. No prior AI experience is required, but a professional understanding of footwear design is essential. 

This course is fully in English. This course is fully in English. The classes are recorded, but it is greatly recommended to join live!

course format and requirements

This program is a live intensive studio format built around learning by creating.

Before the sprint begins, participants are asked to define a project subject they will work on throughout the program. This can focus on a specific footwear market, product category, target consumer, or innovation challenge participants want to explore further in their own professional practice.

The sprint consists of 4 live studio sessions across 2 immersive weekends. Sessions are highly hands-on and focused on active creation, experimentation, discussion, and implementation rather than passive watching. Participants will build and refine their own project step by step throughout the sprint.

Each live session lasts approximately 3.5 hours, including a short break. In between sessions, participants should expect approximately 1–2 hours of homework per class day to further develop their concepts and apply the workflows learned during the live studios.

Required AI applications:


Additional AI tools and platforms may also be introduced during the sprint depending on the project direction and workflow needs.

Participants will receive a certificate upon completion.

course schedule

SATURDAY, JULY 11 - 5PM-8:30PM CEST
  • intro to AI
  • Project definition
  • Research
  • Forecasting
  • Audience definition
  • Design brief

END RESULT OF DAY 1:
Clear concept foundation and direction
SUNDAY, JULY 12 - 5PM-8:30PM CEST
  • Creative thinking
  • Prompt and workflow definition
  • Visual ideation and style definition
  • Creating and combining variations
  • Sorting and curation
  • Image management and archiving


END RESULT OF DAY 2:
Carefully curated ideas in a consistent, original style
SATURDAY, JULY 18 - 5PM-8:30PM CEST
  • Generating color and material renditions
  • Generating lasts and soles
  • Tech Packs 
  • Sole Blue Prints
  • Virtual try on
  • Packaging and accessories

END RESULT OF DAY 3:
Fully detailed design concept including technical descriptions
SUNDAY, JULY 19 - 5PM-8:30PM CEST
  • Generating 3D AI
  • Pixolid Footwear Studio app
  • Writing scenarios for video
  • Video creation
  • Music creation
  • Compiling the full presentation

END RESULT OF DAY 4:
Professional design concept presentation including video and 3D models that can be 3D printed
Below are examples made during AI Augmented Footwear Designer. In the AI-native Footwear Design Sprint you will learn the same workflows, but in a more condensed, immersive studio class format.

Examples - forecasting

For class 2 we let ai help us collect a wide variety of trend reports for a/w 2027/28, especially for the men´s market, since this was our focus. These were not just reports for fashion and footwear, but also for interior, automotive and gaming. Then we had ai analyze these reports and compare them to macro trend reports about long-term economic and environmental developments. We let ai check if the trends were grounded in actual societal developments and if anything was missing or incorrect.
From there we used ai to generate a trend report from all this information, focused on the men´s barefoot shoe market, and help us find inspiring sources for visuals, suggesting both up and coming, as well as established artists and designers that match with the trend stories. We also used ai to gather the images.
Then we used other ai applications to generate mood boards and color palettes from these visuals, playing with different layouts and styles.

Examples - market research

First we used ai to gather as much market information as possible through available online sources and compile it into a comprehensive report.
Then we let ai help us build an api to scrape data from various types of media, such as comments on Youtube and reviews on Amazon. We then had ai combine this information with the market info we already made to create a report aimed at designers, explaining the main design opportunities in the barefoot shoe market for men.
Then ai generated 6 consumer profiles and matching design briefs combining the design insights with the forecasting we did in class 2.

Examples - design exploration

With the help of ai we made prompts for image generation, based upon the trend and market research and the design briefs. 
We then ran these prompts in different ai applications and decided on a final direction.
Once we had this we generated that design from all sides, including a full 360 degree spin.

Examples - design series,  tooling and tech packs

In class 5 we created an ai workflow that allows for making color and material combinations according to an exact pre-defined format. For this workflow you can use actual Pantone color numbers and material swatches from your suppliers, so these are all realistic renditions that can be manufactured.
We also used ai to create full tech packs, both as visuals for presentations and as accurate editable excel files that adjust the content automatically to each new shoe design, saving a lot of time and preventing errors.
From the top view of the shoe we derived the last with ai and generated all sides of it. We will use these images later to create a wearable 3D model of the shoe.
We also generated several sole renditions, a 3D view of the sole and a technical blueprint. The sole can be adjusted to the last shape later. Ai can do much more than most companies assume!

Examples - virtual try on, packaging, logo, 3D models and video

Write your awesome label here.
In class 6 is the finishing touch for any design presentation. We generated photorealistic images showing the shoes on the foot and images of packaging with a detailed product description, including a logo. This is an actual editable vector logo in ai.
Then we used the multi-angle images that we had generated before of the last and the shoe to generate a 3D model of the last and shoe. Using a special app we created with Pixolid we then subtracted the last from the shoe, since this ai 3D model was not hollow and did not have the last shape yet. This does not require any 3D modeling skills and results in a fully printable shoe that is shaped to the last.
We had already made some short videos in the course, but for this class we also explained how to use ai for longer videos, so we could show the product on the actual user in their daily life. We also wrote the lyrics and composed the music with ai.

Example - making the concept presentation

Once we had made all this - and this is just a selection of all the things we generated - we also used ai to compile it into a full presentation, all while we were making coffee....

You can download the full presentation, we are happy to share WHAT we did, if you want to know HOW we did this, then enrol now! 
COURSE LICENSES

new: enrol your whole team!

Would you like to enrol multiple people at once for one or more courses? You can now simply purchase a number of seats and assign them to your team members. You can follow their individual progress in your personal dashboard and you can change seats whenever you want.

  • If you enrol 2-4 people you get 10% discount.
  • If you enrol 5 people or more you get 20% discount.
  • If you want to enrol more than 8 people, then contact us for a custom deal.


Would you like the course to be held just for your team, either on location or online, at a time that suits you? We have already helped Skechers, John Fluevog, Charles & Keith and Aretto and we are happy to organize this for you as well. Contact us for more details!
Write your awesome label here.
Write your awesome label here.

meet your instructor

Nicoline van Enter is the founder of Footwearology and has built her career on integrating emerging technologies into the footwear industry. Over the past three years, she has specialized in AI and its practical application in design and product development.
She has trained — and continues to train — leading brands across the globe, including Skechers (USA), John Fluevog (Canada), Charles & Keith (Singapore), and Aretto (India), each with very different strategic needs and levels of AI maturity.
AI Augmented Footwear Designer is the culmination of this experience. It goes beyond generating attractive visuals and focuses on teaching designers how to use AI to create measurable value — strengthening reasoning, improving workflows, and expanding creative capacity.
Used deliberately and intelligently, AI does not diminish the designer’s role. It elevates it.