POWERGROUP

RACING SHOE
Zalando has one of the largest online shoe selections; the
SympaTex membrane is unbeatable in breathability, wind
and waterproofing in sport and outdoor clothing.
The design goal was to combine the most important
elements of the Zalando & SympaTex brands with the
vehicle. POWERGROUP’s designers faced the challenge of
creating an unusual design which combines these elements
and is both technically possible and catches the attention of
the media.
The great challenge: to take into consideration the radical
3-D form of a racing car and find a design vocabulary which
correlates to the dynamics of the car plus guarantees the
recognisability of a shoe and SympaTex membranes.
The POWERGROUP team rose to the challenge with fervour
and intense engagement. The first step was to make a model
in the scale of 1:10 which formed the basis of the transfer of
three-dimensionality to a two-dimension graphic format. The
upper material of the shoe was laid on as a pattern for the
car-wrapping foils background.
The design was defined directly on the car. The goal was
not only to integrate the 3-D form of the car, but to take costs
into consideration: replacing parts of the wrap, if needed,
with a minimum of effort. After completion of the printing,
the design was transferred to the entire vehicle using the foil
wrapping technique.
The unique and unmistakable innovative design of the racing
shoe generated considerable media attention without
extra marketing efforts. That was particularly the case with
motorsport as the ADAC used the racing-car in a large
number of announcements and illustrations used to promote
ADAC Motorsport.
Particularly noteworthy is the continuing placement of the
racing car on the start-page of ADAC Motorsport, the portal
for all of the races they support. This portal serves as the
ideal basis for increasing the awareness of Nici Pohler as
well as effective marketing communications for the sponsors
Zalando and SympaTex, not to mention an optical upgrading
of the racing series.
The racing shoes upon which the design was based were
sold out at Zalando’s online store within a few days.
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