Winning shoe designers find inspiration in catastrophe and pinoy icons

Shoes inspired by the Taal eruption, jeepneys and even a bowl of ramen — our Filipino footwear designers proved their talent once again at turning imaginative ideas into wearable reality at the Filipino Footwear Design Competition 2020 (FFDC), a yearly national competition organized by the Philippine Footwear Federation, Inc., in partnership with the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI). At present it’s the only national competition that promotes Filipino footwear design and development. The Grand Winner gets P10,000, first runner-up gets P7,000, and second runner-up gets P4,000.

Zapateria hosted this year’s Zoom event, which featured seven finalists who presented their designs and were interviewed and judged in real time by a panel of judges.

In the competition, finalists collaborate with established shoe designers and Marikina-based shoemakers to bring their sketches to life, and the winning designs will represent the country at the International Footwear Design Competition (IFDC) in China.

“Filipino talents, no doubt, are known the world over,” said the keynote speaker, DTI Undersecretary Blesila Lantayona. “This is what we consistently showcase in many international art competitions. This natural talent of ours, coupled with our strong affinity for footwear, is the perfect recipe for winning the International Footwear Design Competition,” she continued, citing the example of young designer Thian Rodriguez, who won the Lady’s Trendy category in IFDC 2019 with his entry, Magdalena. This year’s judging panel was composed of DTI-NCRO Marcy Alcantara, Amina Aranaz-Alunan of SoFA Design Institute, Joey Enriquez of Charter International, Monica Samson-Escano of OTTO Shoes and Zarah Juan of her eponymous label Zarah Juan.

Mentoring the designers were Maco Custodio of Maco Custodio PH, FFDC Hall of Famers Thian Rodriguez of Thian Rodriguez Manila, Gerome Sta. Maria of GSM Bags & Footwear and Cari-Dawn Conejero of Tawong Lipod Creative Studio, Rico Sta. Ana of Zapateria, Mara Piñon of Mara Piñon PH, Sheila de Jesus of Sheila de Jesus Shoes, and Nicco Pintac of Motherland PH.

The criteria for judging were 40 percent for Creativity and Originality of Concept, 20 percent for Material Usage and Innovation, 20 percent for Presentation Ability, 10 percent for Design Appearance and 10 percent for Feasibility/ Implementation.

After almost an hour of deliberation, the judges awarded the three winners. Here they are, along with the other finalists.