FUTURE FOOT FORMS COMPETITION
Prospectus:
Prospectus: Future Foot Forms – A Speculative Footwear Design Competition
The Center for New Art, William Paterson University
We invite student artists, designers, architects, technologists, and dreamers to imagine the next frontier of footwear: not the shoes we need, but the shoes we never thought possible. “Future Foot Forms” is a design competition focused on radical, non-utilitarian footwear made using 3D scanning and 3D printing. This is not a call for ergonomics, comfort, or marketability. Instead, it is an open arena for pure, speculative invention—an exploration of how shoes might evolve if function followed fantasy.
Participants are encouraged to challenge conventional assumptions about what shoes are for. Can footwear become a site for narrative, ritual, identity, or ecological expression? Can a shoe serve as a wearable organism, a prosthetic myth, a glitch in fashion’s timeline? Can the foot become an interface for something stranger than walking?
Designers may use 3D scanning—of feet, objects, or terrain—as a starting point for transformation. The use of 3D printing allows for intricate forms, material experiments, and sculptural freedoms previously inaccessible to traditional shoemaking. Whether assembled digitally from environmental scans or modeled from the distortions of the human foot, entries should reflect a commitment to conceptual exploration, material innovation, and visual daring.
“Future Foot Forms” is more than a design challenge. It is a platform for asking wild questions: What if shoes remembered where they’ve been? What if they whispered, glowed, or bloomed? What if walking became a performance, a transformation, a statement?
Creative Council
Submissions will be reviewed by a Creative Council—a group of visionary shoe developers known for their boundary-pushing work across disciplines. Rather than acting as judges, these contributors will serve as stewards of the speculative, offering insight, critical perspective, and curatorial care in the selection process. They will champion bold ideas and celebrate risk-taking.
Eligibility: Open to individuals or teams from any discipline. We especially encourage entries from those working at the intersection of fashion, sculpture, architecture, game design, biomimicry, speculative fiction, and digital fabrication.
Currently enrolled students of William Paterson University.
Recently graduated students from William Paterson University.
College and University Students in the United States.
High school students in the region.
Submissions will be judged on originality, conceptual clarity, and creative use of 3D scanning and printing technologies. This is not a competition for wearable consumer products—it is a celebration of excess, eccentricity, and vision.
This is your chance to reimagine the relationship between body and ground, between craft and code, between the practical and the poetic. Show us what the future feels like—starting from the ground up.
Selected designs will be exhibited at the Power Art Gallery, located in the Power Art Building at 25 Power Ave, Wayne, NJ. IF a 3d file is indicated, it may be fabricated in partnership with the Center for New Art print lab. Participants retain all rights to their designs, and will be able to collect their 3d prints at the end of the show.
Follow the submission Guidelines below.
Deadline for submissions: Digital Submission January 16, 2016
Notification of Participation: February 14, 2026
Delivery of Presentation board for Invited Participants: March
Contact for questions: reesm@wpunj.edu
Creative Council
Mark Dezao
Senior Footwear Executive with experience leading and inspiring high-performance teams with a proven track record of success. Extensive experience in all aspects of Retail, including Specialty Stores, Outlet Value Stores, and branded websites. Specializing in buying and merchandising led to an SVP and EVP role responsible for Brand Footwear Design and Development, including wholesale, retail, direct, and international businesses. Restructuring and implementing new design and development processes led to multiple new innovative and breakthrough industry-leading product launches, resulting in sales growth and increased profitability. Mark is also an alumnus of William Paterson University.
Henry (HANK) Besancey- Sr. Design Director, Athletic
Sandy Coviello, Footwear Exec Sales, Product(Aerosoles & Others)
Paula Lynch Owner/Operator Handbag/Accesory Company
David Hanna, LJO Inc.
The Center for New Art at William Paterson University
The center is a place for makers, thinkers, and doers to explore the intersection of art and technology.