My name is Fabio
and DZR shoes and I'm the marketing
director of the company and a co-founder and...
And I'm Shane I am the product designer and
we started DZR together in 2010.
The idea came from Shane many years ago and nobody really believed in this combination
of a sneaker and a cycling shoe.
I think it was just a need.
You know when I was in the office I had all these friends that use to cycle to the office
that had SPDs on their bikes.
I thought it made sense to make something
that was casual, but also performance ranked.
A normal shoe um...has a fairly flexible sole
and a bike shoe has
usually some kind of a
reinforcement shank.
Yea the cleats
that we have at the bottom of the shoe
that's an option.
You can cut out the outsole
and attach the cleat.
and then you're gonna be
completely attached to the pedals
and in that area the shoes are particularly stiffer.
And so, they transfer a lot of power.
So the design process
is actually different depending on
what kind of company you're in.
If you're in a small company...
um, like for us... it can be a little bit
less formal...
and less structure...
but, you get a briefing, um,
from the marketing
or...
from product managers.
And, basically gives you...
um..
price points...
kind of a general direction for the type of market
and then maybe perhaps materials or colors
or some sort of basic directions.
And then, you...
go crazy.
You start brainstorming
you sketch
you maybe go out for a walk
and go to some stores
or look at some magazines
and get some ideas.
And then,
ah, from the sketch
you bring them into renderings
and you do your presentation.
So the shading
will add a little bit of depth
into the lacing...
to the heel cuff.
After the renderings, we go to prototypes
where you actually make a 3D model
and you
choose specific materials
you work on the pattern.
We actually have our own prototyping facility
in China.
And...
we were really close.
I mean I'll get down on there on the sewing machine with them
sometimes.
After the prototype we make your refinements
usually there is around three or four
um cycles of refinements
and changes.
"Alright, guys."
"Did the jetlag..."
"in all black."
"Oh in all black."
"Nice huh"
"Yea..."
"So simple."
"So now here's a question..."
"black with brown?"
"or black with black?"
"I just think black and brown..."
"is generally"
"a..."
"men's fashion"
"thing."
"We'll we'll search some more for women's."
"I think I don't... I'm not convinced about this."
I love that
our job is actually to bike.
You have to use the product to know
what you're trying to invent.
I was a professional
a....
rider before, a cyclist
and
in the meantime
I was at universities studying architecture
So, I have kinda a technical background.
I can sketch. I can use my my
you know my drawings
to explain
and you know
communicate with designers.
I actually went for went to school for product design
over in arts center in LA.
But before that I was an engineer.
So I always liked to build things.
I also liked to do a lot of crafts
and painting and art.
So, it kinda just was a perfect melt.
I find math still very useful.
From planning out our inventory to
how we are going to layout our warehouse space.
We need to figure out what percentage of the product is
made out of this leather
what percentage made out of this leather.
And, ah
you know I've used a lot of mathematical equations
to figure this stuff out.
In my previous jobs,
I had in the sports industry
I was like...
part of the development
and I kinda decided to learn something new.
And, getting this marketing adventure,
which is good for me
because I become a social person.
There's all different types of designers.
I've seen people who are ...
fantastic communicators
and they are sort of mediocre
sketchers.
Often times in like groups like this
um..
they don't have the ego of being so brilliant
that they can work together
with somebody else.
And so that, also can
uh bring up amazing ideas
It was possible because of
our passion for cycling
biking with my products
which is exciting because basically you have an idea...
you know what you need
and then you create it.
You're going to be able to touch your ideas
and they become real.
There's always somebody who thinks your ideas
is not going to work.
I think that's probably the hardest part about
getting started with a product is...
you know, have the confidence to just keep going forward.