Overview

Footwear Design and Development Certificate is a 13-week professional certificate comprised of 3 courses that provide students with a comprehensive overview of the footwear industry while developing the necessary skills that lead to successful product design. Industry partners and instructors with extensive experience in design, materials, and production of footwear will provide key elements from concept through marketing in creating functional and fashionable shoes for contemporary consumers.  

Who should earn this certificate?

  • Clothing designers, merchandisers, shoe designers, and accessory designers who want to expand their understanding of shoe design, marketing and production
  • Students and job seekers who want to update their portfolio to include provocative design boards using cutting-edge tools, materials and color development.

Skill-based approach

Learn about all phases of footwear design and production from introduction to design processes, to biomechanics, best practices, and trends and market analytics all lead to a holistic understanding of how the industry works. Upon completion of the certificate, students with design experience will have adapted their skill set to include a unique area of product design. Students without design experience will acquire an important foundation of the major components of shoe design, production and marketing.

Classes

The curriculum is designed to provide both fashion design students and those with no design experience with the fundamentals of shoe design and development.

Wondering what types of classes, you will be taking? Below is a sample of the curriculum provided to get a sense of what your academic path looks like. If you want to see the full curriculum visit the academic catalog.

FASH912 Footwear Product Development

Instructor: Elizabeth Brock-Jones
Cost: $695

You’ll learn how footwear goes from Brief to Box while thinking about the development process through multiple different lenses, including fit, function, profitability, sustainability, manufacturability, delivering products on time, and on design. Understanding manufacturing processes, production pattern making, material usage and regulations, factory placement, sustainability and product costing analysis is imperative in making creative design decisions. This course will introduce shoe designers to key factors that have a direct impact on the production and distribution of footwear products. In 4 short weeks, you’ll have a comprehensive view of footwear development and the ability to think critically about development-related issues and solutions, and some tangible takeaways to improve your career interview portfolio. No prerequisites, software, digital or design skills are required.

Dates Offered: 

  • April 1 - April 24, 2025 (Spring II)

FASH910 Shoe Design Basics 

Instructor: Mike Friton
Cost: $695

Students will focus on developing a solid foundation of shoe design ability, including shoe history, vocabulary, biomechanics, sketching, brief creation, material selection, pattern-making techniques and construction systems. You will create a digital footwear collection that will be critiqued by industry professionals, which could be used to build your portfolio.  Students must have a basic understanding of design processes.

Dates Offered: 

  • May 6 - June 9, 2025 (Summer I)

FASH930 Footwear Materials, Color and Trend Analysis

Instructor: Britney Sones
Cost: $795

This six-week course will combine the need to balance footwear design criteria of form, function and performance with forecasting ability and analysis.

Appropriate material choices for uppers and soles must reflect comprehensive research of consumer and end-use purposes to assure fit, shape, style and comfort. Costing and sourcing factors also play a pivotal role in selecting resources. This course will introduce students to a wide variety of upper and sole materials, their performance attributes, manufacturing best practices of these resources, and strategies for making wise choices. Additionally, the use and application of color will be examined through a global lens to evaluate the influence color is having on the rise of the contemporary shoe market.

In addition, this course is designed to enhance forecasting ability through a combination of “pulse point” research, analysis, and presentation so that the design approach can be tailored to market needs. Students will learn examining techniques for interpreting the social and cultural influences on footwear, which facilitates recognizing and predicting trends in the global market. Storytelling within the context of brand representation will be explored through marketing strategies such as; social media, special events, public relations and advertising. Market analysis will include understanding the consumer, the competition, and the retail landscape.

Dates Offered: 

  • June 10 - July 21, 2025 (Summer I)

How to Register

Students can take just one course or as many as they would like.  If you take all the courses, you can earn a non-credit certificate in Footwear Design & Development.

Students should have familiarity with using a computer and how to access Zoom. A high school diploma is required.  

Admission documents are not required.

 

Pick Your Course & Pay

Choose your course below.  Use the scroll bar to see all courses available.  Then click to add a 1 beside the course(s) for which you want to sign up. Once you have chosen all the classes, click on the checkout button and add your payment information.   

Scholarships

Ask about our Footwear Product Development & Product Management course scholarship opportunities. Email profstudies@lasell.edu for more info on how to apply. 

Groups

We are happy to accommodate groups that would like to take this class or organizations that would like to be invoiced for the course. Email us at profstudies@lasell.edu.

About the instructors

Elizabeth Brock-Jones

Elizabeth is currently Principal Innovator at Nike, where she’s worked for the past 10+ years. During that time, she’s worked with Innovation, Nike Sportswear, Special Projects, Global Express lane and Fuel teams on projects that range from sandals, boots, ACG, running and the entire Off-White x Nike: The Ten collection. Elizabeth also teaches for the University of Oregon Sports Product Management Program based in Portland, OR, and Lasell University. Prior to starting at Nike, Elizabeth received her BS in Kinesiology from Iowa State, as well as an MS in Biomechanics from the University of Tennessee and an MBA in Sports Marketing from the University of Oregon. 

Mike Friton

After leaving Nike in 2009, Friton founded his own company, Friton Design. Friton Design is a creative incubator for innovative footwear design and product development. The mission is to leverage a passion for creativity in athletic shoe design to a broader spectrum of product development. Friton explores universal design principles and applies them innovatively to create radically different and uniquely functional new products.

Friton's extensive knowledge and hands-on expertise with high-quality demand products has been successfully applied to various goods and industries worldwide. In addition to his superior functionality expertise, he has experience in all facets of product design, product development, prototype making, pattern engineering and grading, CAD modeling, tech packs, small-scale local production, factory sourcing, and material sourcing.  

Friton graduated from the University of Oregon with an anthropology degree. As a student at Oregon, he was a competitive runner and collaborated with the Co-Founder of Nike, Mr. Bill Bowerman, for 18 years.

Britney Sones

Britney Sones is an experienced color designer and trend and material specialist with a background in footwear, performance wear, and high-end fashion. At Crocs, she developed her expertise in color, trend, and materials, helping to build the color team from the ground up to the trend-forward brand you see today. Britney’s diverse industry experience gives her a comprehensive understanding of the importance of keeping a pulse on all areas of the industry to be at the forefront of trends in footwear.

Britney holds a degree in Fashion Design and has a decade of experience forecasting trends, colors, prints and materials in this ever-changing industry. Passionate about fostering creativity and innovation, she is excited to bring her industry insights to her role at Lasell University.

FAQS

Do I need Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop before I start the certificate courses? 

No, you don't need to purchase Adobe Illustrator or Photoshop to take this course.

Can these classes be completed from a Chromebook? 

Yes, these courses can be completed with a computer,/laptop, or Chromebook. 

Will I need to purchase course materials and/or software for these classes? 

It differs by class. The only class that requires a textbook is FASH912 Footwear Product Development. The FASH910 Shoe Design Basics has optional prototype material packets available for purchase at $50. For all other classes, you will not need to purchase any software and materials are provided.

Does the program require attendance to live synchronous meetings? 

No, the live synchronous Zoom sessions are optional and can be recorded for those students with time zones and/or work schedules that preclude participation in the synchronous content. 

Can I take one or two of the courses in the program or do I need to take all three courses? 

You can take as many or as few of the courses as you would like.  But the courses are complementary to each other and there is a full benefit to completing the entire program in order to earn the certificate and assess the varied career opportunities in the industry. 

How long should I expect to spend doing coursework per week? 

Each class is a bit different, but expect to spend on average about 5-6 hours per week attending or watching class sessions, readings and assignments