Sneakers are so much more than a product of collaboration. While there is an ongoing debate on who and what drove sneaker culture, the history of basketball sneakers has always served as an emerging cultural force. Legends from Michael Jordan to Kobe Bryant have used their sneakers as a way to indicate personality and individuality. So although basketball sneakers have been designed for performance, they have also grown in popularity as lifestyle shoes.
The athlete becomes the face and embodiment of a basketball sneaker, but often overlooked is the mastermind: the sneaker designer. This industrial design-minded, part architect and visionary can conceptualize a new sneaker model from an intricate design process.
Sneaker Designers or Athletic Footwear Designers are specialized designers who focus on footwear design for an athletic function or lifestyle aesthetic to create the most practical and appealing sneaker. They are responsible for conceptualizing new sneaker models and lines whose designs end up in a vaulted sneaker library. If you’re not looking to be the next Michael Jordan, but still aspire to have that signature sneaker line and impact sneaker culture for generations to come, opt for a career as a sneaker designer.
Read about Bruce Kilgore and other basketball sneaker designers and their signature shoe. 
Learn about their design inspiration and process.
In this mini e-book, we uncover the top ten sneaker designers, their legacy basketball sneakers, and the design process they took to form their concept into reality.
In this e-book about basketball sneakers, learn about:
- Top 10 basketball sneaker designers
- Signature basketball sneakers
- Design inspiration of each sneaker
- Design process for each sneaker
Do you want to know more about sneaker history or the sneaker design process? Turn your passion into a career with Yellowbrick’s Sneaker Essentials online course. Or download our career guide to explore the many design careers in the sneaker industry.
