what's going on guys John Santos and today we're here inside of a sneaker
manufacturer where they actually produce thousands of sneakers every single month
they're one of the oldest companies around in Mexico, Leon that actually
manufactures sneakers so in this factory they actually build it from the ground
up from the soles to the stitching to the gluing to the packaging and to the
shipping out to the stores that they're gonna sell to and in this video I'm
gonna show you guys the entire process so you know exactly how a sneaker design
that you have in mind can become a reality through a factory like this alright
let's get it
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mention at the end of this video to jumpstart your clothing the process of
making a sneaker begins with the design process for sneakers this starts by
using a shoelace and some masking tape the tape is then applied around the shoe
last which becomes a foundation of your sneaker design the person designing then
draws in the design on top of this tape which is then peeled off and cut to
create the pattern from here the pattern designer creates a digital pattern which
is then manipulated for production as you can see there are a lot of details
and creating the patterns for shoes but don't let the step overwhelm you
after this we need to go to the laser machine to get all the pieces that way
we can start to cut in the material perfect let's do it once the patterns
are completed they are sent to the cutter this factory actually has a laser
cutting table which takes the information it is given and makes the
pattern pieces that will be used during the sampling process of this shoe
designed with these pieces and information from the designers the
sample maker is able to create this one-off design once the samples are
finalized it's time to go to production it's important to note that this factory
produces thousands of shoes a day and they work on various styles every single
day so we're gonna take you to the entire process a shoe would go through
once it is ready to be manufactured this is something that is rarely shared so
you guys are getting a behind-the-scenes look at this are you ready
so we're actually here at the molding location this is where they create the
bases this machine right here is the one that makes it all possible so we're here
where my man Abram who is the guy in charge of this entire process and he's gonna
show us right now exactly how this all goes down
so essentially what he's doing here is he's he's pretty much putting this whole
thing together so he takes the designs that a designer will send him and he'll
actually create a 3d model of it because those 3d models become these these types
of bases that you see here so this was a design a shoe design that somebody
created and he's in charge of making sure that the shoe design is gonna fit
the base this is the molding so this is all really where it all starts right
here and he makes sure that the designs that were envisioned come to life so
that's what he's doing on the computer right now and once that design actually
gets created it goes over to that machine where the mold for this comes to
life which is a metal piece which I'll show you guys right now right now we're
getting an inside look at how the CNC machine produces the molds for the
sneaker soles
those pieces flying out of this machine are scorching hot normally the doors are
closed we wanted to get your close up shot for you guys the crazy part is that
it could take up to ten hours to create the mold for one sneaker design keep in
mind this mold is just for one size typically shoes come in more than just
one size so you can imagine how much time is spent creating all the sizes
that you need for a design once the mold is completed it is measured and
inspected to ensure that it will function correctly during the injection
process part of this inspection includes ensuring that it closes correctly
because if it doesn't seal correctly the sole of the shoe is at stake the man
right here slamming it shut in order to mimic the pressure of the Machine you
will see in an upcoming part and the blue material that is applied will show
how close or how far they are to having the proper spacing so what's happening
here is they take the CNC mold put it over here this guy make sure that it's
gonna it's gonna actually close right it's a pretty big deal for it not to
close so it needs to close real tight because then it's actually injected with
the molding material and essentially it's put together on one side the sole
pretty much sits on here and the other base comes in and closes on it and then
what ends up happening is they inject the actual material and your final
product looks like this which is what we're gonna head over to to actually
show you how those pieces start from here and then actually become something
like this which ends up going into a shoe but before we get into the next
part I want to show you the metallization process this is a step for
sneakers or heels that require a metal and bright look to them during the space
plastic is essentially turned to real looking metal and as you see the workers
here clean and prepare the plastic for what's to come
once it's cleaned up they actually put it through this machine which applies a
base coat to it which will actually allow the metals to adhere to it next a
metal is evaporated in a vacuum chamber that's a smart way to put it but
essentially this thing right here actually create plastic into metal
here are some finished pieces that recently underwent this process and they
are now ready to be inserted into the sole as a mold is injected as you can
see this block was created with the CNC machine ax which just saw a few minutes
ago the machine injects the material for the
sole which is then instantly pressurized and cured resulting in a finished
sneaker sole that is ready for production this is the finished piece so
as we just showed you guys inside this is how it all comes together look at the
quality on that this is the finished sneaker here every little piece has a
process and it all needs to be checked and verified in order for the final shoe
to come out and actually be ready to be worn in this area here they do the final
cleaning of the actual molds as I said earlier this Factory has multiple styles
being made at any given time in our little manufacturing part I'm about to
show you is a different sneaker design every design goes through a similar
process as with anything in apparel manufacturing the sewing process begins
with the cutting of the fabrics
and this Factory if the order quantities are low the fabric is laser-cut so once
the actual shoe is cut they actually notch it here so as you can see here
they notch these for the size of the shoe it's a little hard to say that this
is a size 2 or a size 3 you know they're really close but the way that they do it
is by indicating it here so this is a size 2 a size 3 a size 4 and then what
they do with the colors by colors so they know that this color is a size 2
and they'll put it on the corresponding shoe size when you have orders of over
5,000 pairs it doesn't really make that much sense to laser-cut the fabric what
they do is I'll actually create a metal piece which is uh which is essentially
what's going to cut through the entire fabric and instead of trying to cut
pieces individually they simply mass cut them all so let me show you guys this is
the piece that they use to die-cut very sharp essentially it's gets pressed
through the fabric which allows them to cut mass quantities very efficiently
the dyes that are used for production are stored and organized on-site ready
for use when needed so now that the fabric is cut and the soles are made it
goes through a very intricate sewing process so in this area essentially what
they're doing is they're creating the front of the shoe so if the front of the
shoe needs like extra backing so it could be reinforced they apply the glue
and then they're able to actually adhere that little that slight piece of foam
which reinforces that shoe and then it's ready to go on to the next process as
you can see a sneaker has a lot of components that need to be sewn together
which requires a hands of many skilled sewers it's amazing to see that from the
heel of the shoe to every little detailed stitch a human and a machine
make it possible
it starts from back here and it works
its way up back and then over to the other side where at the end of the at
the end of this production line they actually have the finished shoe from
gluing to stitching to even pressure sealing the manufacturing process is
intense and it's the reason why minimus for production on sneakers are so high
as you can see there is a variety of steps involved with sewing up a shoe
belts are used to move the pieces to the next person in the process
as you guys can see slowly but surely the shoes coming together every little
piece and component and person plays an important role to making sure that the
shoe has a good quality at the end of the production run so this is starting
to become a little bit more like a shoe first I thought maybe it was a baby
apron if I wasn't here but since I'm here I know it's a shoe right these
sewing machines are a beast allowing the sewer to quickly stitch up any angle of
the shoe so at the top of the shoe completed the next part is in combining
it to become a finished product this is where the shoe last comes into play keep
in mind each lash represents a shoe size how many last evenings are required for
an entire size run the top of the shoe is pressed onto the shoe last in order
to join the sole in the upcoming process
check out the homie Jose as he operates his robot the shoe then goes into
Pablo's Court where he bangs the out of it in order to conform to the last with
the final press of a button the top of the shoe is finally fitted to the last
ensuring closure from the front and the heel
the bottom than grinded down a bit in order to prepare it for the sole in this
part of the process they're getting the actual sole and they're putting the glue
that's gonna actually adhere to the top part so this shoe is a lot closer to
being ready to be done finally from here the top of the shoe goes to this final
prepping process before joining the soles shoutouts to the homie Noel from
appearances in multiple Fast and the Furious movies to making sneakers he's
hooking this world up
and finally the uppers and lowers are aligned and sealed together by the
hydraulic press from here the last is removed and the shoe is officially ready
for the finishing details the finishing touches involved gluing the insoles and
passing it down to the final quality control check the finish shoes are then
boxed up and shipped to customers and retailers so there you have it guys I
hope you enjoyed this video where we showed you guys how to make a sneaker
from the ground up as you guys see there's a lot of moving parts into
actually making a sneaker design so it's important for you to keep in mind the
types of fabrics the types of fit function and the market that you're
trying to attack because it's not cheap to make a sneaker brand and I really
hope that I was able to answer a lot of your questions for those you guys that
are watching so if you enjoyed this video subscribe by clicking on the link
down below and hitting that notification bell and also open up the video
description to find the related links to any resources and and the people that we
spoke to today all right so I appreciate all you guys for watching comment down
below if you have any further questions and always make sure to download the
free supplier guide that I have right here as well as the resources that I
send directly to your inbox all right I'll see you guys on the next one bye