Still under 30 years of age, Mark Miner has the lofty achievement of being a senior footwear designer at Nike, and furthermore, is the mastermind behind the Nike Free Run+ range – a collection of shoes that mimics barefoot running through the use of innovative technology. We chatted with the over-achiever about his hugely successful designs, the latest kicks in the range: Nike Free Run +3 and what is involved with designing the ultimate running shoe.

First off tell us a bit about who you are and what you do?

I am a senior footwear designer at Nike performance running. I started my career in New York doing mens and women’s fashion and over the last years have been doing more performance-based products. I have a passion and curiosity with most things in this world that keeps my mind quite busy. Something not many know about me is that I am infatuated with tigers; I love them! Random.

How did you get into being a footwear designer and how did it all lead into you becoming a senior Nike footwear designer?

Being a footwear designer wasn’t something that I grew up wanting to do. Now thinking about it it’s funny because I had so many shoes as a kid. When I was in high school I had hundreds of pairs and now it’s just scary how many shoes I have! In college my frustration with what I saw in the stores resulted in me cutting shoes and exploring how they were made and re-designing them. I took my designs to a professor at Parsons School of Design to gain more knowledge and found a job opportunity in my sophomore summer. Within a year I was flying over to China to develop and see my shoes being manufactured and brought to life. Now nine years later, I have designed for fashion through to performance and moved across the country. It has definitely been a ‘journey’ of sorts to get me to where I am today.

What’s the process you go through to design and develop a shoe like the Free Run +3?

I begin with understanding what was working and what needed improvement from the previous Nike Free Run. Working with athletes and local runners who have performed in the shoes helps so that I can find a focus for where to start designing. With this shoe it is really focusing around the foot and how the shoe moves with you while you are running. Once you have gathered your ideas you begin to make prototypes and test them to see how they will perform. Many times what you think might work doesn’t and vice versa. It always seems to work that way so it takes patience and continuing to problem solve. This is the part of the process that I truly enjoy. The shoe will continue to evolve through multiple rounds of testing from material use through to relevant colour designs and blocking. Colours were a key part of the story for the Free Run +3 as I wanted to use colour to highlight the new performance details. As you can see, the process of designing a shoe involves many people and it is a continuous process.

Can you enlighten us a little on the benefits of barefoot running?

When you run in shoes that have been designed around the foot and how it functions you will naturally enhance your running experience. Running in Nike Free has been designed around the movements of the foot and as such it can strengthen the foot.

Nike seem to have been attempting to make a shoe to mimic the barefoot running experience for a long time with shoes like the Sock Racer, Air Rift and Presto. Do you think that Free technology is as close as you’ll get?

Nike Free has been a technology that has been around for many years and over the years it has influenced other shoes. It is in Nike’s nature to innovate with this attitude and you can expect more to come.

The Free Run +2 has become a hugely popular shoe with the fashion conscious crew lately. Did you ever anticipate Frees as becoming an everyday fashion item for the non-runner?

I am not a fortune teller. The shoe’s popularity I believe comes from the experience of your feet being in the shoe and how it works with you. When designing Free, the performance creates the visual and in turn that has lead to some very visually iconic products with personality.

The Free sole seems to be the go-to for a Nike hybrid in recent years, do you have a favourite one? Or is there a shoe that you would like to see re-interpreted with Free technology?

I just bought a pair of the Nike Air Wovens and attached the Nike Free sole to them. It feels good, but I don’t wear many hybrids otherwise.

I take it you play a lot of sports yourself, what have you learnt from sports that you have been able to take into your everyday life?

Hustle beats talent if talent doesn’t hustle.

Aside from shoes, what fills up your sketchbooks?

Good question, well to be honest, tattoos! Many of those drawings have made it from the pages of the notebooks to skin on my body. I am literally running out of space maybe I should start to draw other things to give my skin a rest.

What do you hope to see happening with running shoes in the coming years?

Running bringing more people together and taking you places you never thought you could go.

Introduction by Christine Mineralles

Interview by Adam Jane