Shoenatomy

new flagship program
OCTOBER 26, 2026 - MAY 3, 2027
Learn how to develop and manufacture shoes that:
 
  • have optimal fit
  • can be made in an automated way, suited for both mass production and local on-demand systems
  • can be renewed and reused
  • can be unmade
Shoenatomy is the online re-education program for ALL footwear professionals. It opens your eyes to a profound new method of making footwear. One that combines a variety of automated manufacturing technologies with logic, ingenuity, understanding of fit and biomechanics, material knowledge and a profound insight in lifecycle design and planning.

It meets you where you are and scales from just making a few crucial changes to a full rethink of your design and manufacturing process.

This program is the successor to our famous "Making: the Future of Footwear" course that was launched back in 2019. This already reshaped the industry´s thinking around footwear sustainability, but since then we have been involved in even more innovation projects that each had the goal to really rethink how we make shoes in the best possible way, so we are meeting the needs of our consumers, our planet, our investors, our conscience and all new eco legislations.

These experiences - both the successes, the failures and the great experts we met along the way - are all embedded in this program and that is why it is ideal for a broad audience.

Shoenatomy is suitable for anyone involved in footwear development, at any stage of the supply chain, from suppliers and factories, to product managers, designers, developers, sustainability managers, innovators, recyclers etc.
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Shoenatomy has 5 modules. If purchased separately, the total costs of the program are €1250, but only in August we offer a package price of €750 and an option for paying in 10 monthly instalments of €79. Both options expire on August 31!
After this course you will be able to:

  • Greatly improve the fit of your collections and decide what kind of custom sizing you might need, if any
  • Confidently choose from and apply a wide range of modern manufacturing methods and the materials that are related to them
  • Develop shoes that can be fully or partially changed to be reused before they are discarded
  • Rework existing designs, so they can meet eco legislations, using a clear system
  • Upgrade/repair existing shoes at scale
  • Understand the reality of end-of-life systems and contribute to designing and implementing such systems

How it works

Shoenatomy is modular — five modules that build from the ground up. Take the full journey, or the modules that matter most to you right now.

  1. Rethinking Footwear - why footwear has to change, and a new way to see a shoe. This module is mandatory, since it explains foundational principles and insights.
  2. Refitting - rethinking the foot, the last, and how shoes really fit
  3. Reanatomy - the method for building new shoes with an optimal lifespan
  4. Reskinning - renewing shoes that already exist
  5. Recovery and Regeneration - what to do for and at the true end of a shoe's life 

Every week, one step forward: → a video class that walks you through the method, one clear stage at a time → expert interviews with people building this for real — wins and failures both → a live Q&A where you get your own questions answered by your trainer and the experts involved.

You move with the cohort, and keep lifetime access to go at your own pace. You will get a certificate upon completing all modules.
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Back to school

Shoenatomy is a full program for professionals that covers more than 6 months, and the price reflects that value. However, we are aiming to making it as accessible as possible for everyone.

That is why in August we are offering a one time only "back to school" rate of €750 for the full program — all five modules, lifetime access, only for those who join early as the first cohort.

Pay once, or spread it over 10 months at €79/month. The payment plan is also for founding members only and closes at the end of August as well.

After that, it's pay-in-full, but even then you can always choose to buy each module separately as you go along. However, the total costs for the program then add up to €1,250, so if you can enrol now you save €500.

Pricing Table

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Module 1:  Rethinking Footwear

This module explains why footwear has to change, and introduces a new way to see a shoe. Everyone starts the course here, since this module includes all foundational principles and insights.
After this, you can:
  • explain, with evidence, why the fix has to be systemic - not merely a material swap or a recycling scheme.
  • understand why the solution lies in different constructions rather than just different material choices.

Looking back at the future

release: october 26
You can't fix footwear's future without seeing how it got stuck. A short, sharp history of why we make shoes the way we do — and what it tells us to change.

  • Why today's shoes are built the way they are
  • What the past says to bring back - and what to leave behind.
  • What the shift means for your company, your role, your segment.

The reality of recycling

release: NOVEMBER 2
Before we build anything new, a clear-eyed look at what recycling can and can't do — so no one's fooled into thinking we can recycle our way out.

  • Every end-of-life route: what's real, and what's hype.
  • When, where and how each actually works — costs, limits and all.
  • The honest picture of where shoes really go today.

Shoenatomy framework

release: NOVEMBER 9
The heart of the method: a new way to see a shoe. Shoenatomy reads every shoe as three layers: its look, its fit and its structure - like skin, muscles and bones - so each can be renewed or recovered on its own, and the whole shoe lasts far longer.

  • The three layers, and why pulling them apart changes everything.
  • How separating look from structure extends a shoe's life.
  • The lens the rest of the course is built on.

Module 2:  Refitting Footwear

Systemic change starts with fit. We finally have real data on how feet are shaped — and how they move and why — so we can build shoes that don't just fit, but move with the foot and support how you stand and walk. This module explains how to do that.
After this, you can:
  • understand the difference between a moving foot, a foot scan and a shoe last
  • turn foot and shoe scan data into better lasts, proportions and sizing for your audience
  • judge when custom, semi-custom or smarter standard sizing fits your product and your business.

Fit: dynamic or static?

release: November 23
How should a shoe actually fit? We rebuild the theory of fit from the ground up, with experts weighing in from every angle.

  • Barefoot or supported? Flat or shaped?
  • How do you make a shoe that moves with a living, changing foot?
  • What "good fit" really means — and where the industry gets it wrong.

What does the data say?

release: NOVEMBER 30
Foot-scanning finally shows us what real feet are shaped like — and how much our lasts and sizes have been guessing.

  • What scan data is readily available and where?
  • How to interpret and translate big data into strategic decisions on sizing.
  • How feet differ by gender, ethnicity and region — and which differences to actually design for.

Custom sizing or not?

release: december 7
Custom-to-size sounds like the fix — but full custom means rebuilding your business around on-demand. Is it right for you?

  • When custom makes sense, and when it really doesn't.
  • The middle ground: semi-custom, smarter ranges, better proportions.
  • And if a shoe can grow and move with the foot — how many sizes do you even need?

Module 3:  Reanatomy

In this module we start actively applying the Shoenatomy principles, simplifying complex footwear constructions using a wide range of modern automated manufacturing methods, materials and finishes. 
After this, you can:
  • develop any type of shoe in such a way that it can come apart.
  • choose the right manufacturing method for each part, with its materials and finishing.
  • build for automation and local manufacturing, starting with what you have.

Reducing complexity

release: january 4, 2027
Current footwear construction was built around manual labour. Automation reduces complexity and makes disassembly/recovery a serious option.

  • Why footwear got so complex, and why it doesn't have to be.
  • The moves that simplify: properties divided across layers, fewer parts, less materials, reversible joins.

Making for machines

release: january 11, 2027
If a machine is going to make it, the shoe has to be designed for a machine to make it.

  • What is the current state of automation in footwear manufacturing?
  • Human versus robot: how can they collaborate and what can each do best?
  • How to design out bottlenecks that require manual labor that does not qualify as craft or luxury.  

Additive methods

release: january 18, 2027
Additive manufacturing could be one approach for all three properties: structure, movement and surface.

  • Generating a shoe like an onion of data
  • Which additive method and material is best for which purpose?
  • Lattices and cages: printing for structure and movement 
  • 3D Printing textiles
  • 3D spraying for uppers and skins

Knitting and braiding

release: january 25, 2027
With knitting and braiding you can create zones with different properties without needing multiple pieces.

  • What are the different methods of knitting and which method is best for what purpose?
  • With yarns and finishes are available with the best end-of-life options?
  • Engineering structure, stretch and pattern into a single multi-layered knit.

Molding and casting

release: FEBRUARY 1, 2027
Without molding technology we would not have the performance sneakers we have now. But how can we drastically improve its ecological footprint?

  • What are new low-impact ways of mold making?
  • How can we also optimize the lifespan and end-of-life of molds?
  • Which molding compounds have best longevity and end-of-life options?
  • Direct injection reimagined: could we release the bonds?

Cutting and bonding

release: FEBRUARY 8, 2027
Assembly is not a crime, as long as bonds can be undone. Cutting and stitching, for instance, are taken to a next level, because of automation.

  • How can we design for minimal cutting waste?
  • What is the current level of automated stitching, both for uppers and sole assembly?
  • How to design for automated stitching?
  • What yarns enable disassembly?
  • Which other assembly methods can be undone?

Assembly & disassembly

release: FEBRUARY 15, 2027

How can we make joining and separating be the same decision seen from two ends?

 

  • The full palette of reversible joins - clicks, laces, stitching, debondable adhesives.
  • Who opens what, and when: wearer, repairer, recycler.
  • How can we build a disassembly infrastructure?

Towards local-for-local

release: FEBRUARY 22, 2027
Once a shoe is simple and machine-made, production can move closer to the people who wear it.  
Microfactories, on demand, small runs — the economics and the design behind them.
Making, and re-making, near the consumer. What it takes to bring production home, starting with what you have.  

Module 4:  Reskinning Footwear

Most shoes aren't ones you'll make — they already exist, by the billion. Reskinning renews them: cleaned, re-dyed, re-skinned, restyled — new life added on top, without taking anything apart, done locally and at scale.
After this, you can:

  • read a stream of unworn or lightly-worn shoes and route each one.
  • turn stranded deadstock into desirable, sellable product, locally and at scale.
  • renew a shoe's surface — clean, coat, re-dye, re-skin — without taking it apart

Getting rid of what we have

release: march 8, 2027
A mountain of shoes already exists — unsold, unworn, or barely used — stranded far from where they were made. Getting rid of it without destroying it is now both a legal requirement and an opportunity.

  • The feedstock: deadstock and lightly-worn returns, where it piles up and what you are (not) allowed to do with it.
  • Why you renew it where it is, instead of shipping it home.
  • Reading the stream: sorting, light cleaning, re-pairing single shoes.

Resurfacing technologies

release: march 15, 2027
The craft nobody teaches — bringing a tired surface back to life, mainly with liquid chemicals.

  • What options are available for re-coating and re-dyeing?
  • How can we purely change colour and print at scale?
  • Functional finishes that add durability, not just colour.
  • Where do we find companies to do this?
  • How do finishes affect end-of-life options?

Reskinning and restyling

release: march 22, 2027
Add, don't dismantle. A new skin over an old shoe turns something dated into something people want. This class uses the manufacturing technologies that are explained in Module 3, so if you are not familiar with those, we advise to follow that module first.

  • New skins — knitted overlays, printed layers, add-on parts.
  • Restyling for desirability, without touching the structure.
  • Turning excess and worn stock into sellable product.

Module 5:  Recovery and Regeneration

Every shoe ends. Recovery and Regeneration is about ending well: cascading a shoe's materials through every remaining life — recovered, repurposed, returned — and knowing, honestly, which route each one has earned. Often the material's best next life isn't a shoe at all.
After this you can:
  • cascade a shoe's materials through every useful life before the end.
  • match each material to the right recovery — grinding, chemical, enzymatic — or its best terminal exit. 
  • develop even a conventional shoe to compost or burn cleanly, and know which belongs where.

Multiple lifespans

release: APRIL 5, 2027
This class continues on the "Reality of Recycling" class in Module 1.

  • If we want footwear to be disassembled, how and where would that be done?
  • Recovery as a cascade, not a menu — material descending through every useful life.
  • What if shoe parts have different lifespans?
  • How can we include money for end-of-life in shoe margins?

Material recovery

release: APRIL 12, 2027
The main option today is mechanical recycling: grind it down and give the granulated material another life — usually not as a shoe.

  • What makes a shoe grindable, and what it yields.
  • Why most granulate belongs in other industries, not back in footwear.
  • What are the most likely industries to use footwear granulate.

Molecular recovery

release: APRIL 19, 2027
Breaking the material back to its building blocks — the frontier, and its limits.

  • What chemical and enzymatic recycling can and can't do.
  • Why thermosets, blends and low volumes still hold it back.
  • Where it's heading, and how to design for it now.

Organic recovery

release: APRIL 26, 2027
The most misunderstood word in sustainability. Compostable, biodegradable, home, industrial — not the same thing.

  • What "compostable" actually means — and what it doesn't.
  • The paradox: durable enough to wear for a long time, degradable on command.
  • How to create more and better composting routes for footwear.

Energy recovery

RELEASE: MAY 3, 2027
Most shoes burn. If they're going to, they should burn clean and burn useful.

  • Designing out the toxic — no fumes, no harm.
  • Designing in the calorific value — real energy back.
  • Which materials belong in the fire, and which in the soil.
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.