Footwear Designer Interview Questions
Working in a creative industry, footwear designer interviewers will ask job interview questions on innovation, idea formation and how to take an idea to market.
The footwear industry is massive, with footwear designers working for high street brands; Nike, Adidas, Ecco or specialising in, as an example mountain footwear working for companies like Northface or Alpkit.
Some designers also work designing trainers and shoes for catwalks, the sports profession or for the Army.
Depending on the sub-sector footwear industry, the job interview will have specific questions related to the field the job is advertised in.
All footwear designer interveiw, do, however, ask questions relating to:
- Working with design teams to review styles, trends and materials.
- The design process.
- Quality checks and overseeing production.
Footwear Designer Job Interview Questions and Answers
Tell me about your experience as a footwear designer?
- First state the length of industry experience you have and what industries you have worked in; fashion, sports, mountaineering.
- Explain what duties you have performed. Have you been involved in just the design phase or overseeing production?
- Highlight any key successes and talk about designs that become popular – where you part of the team that designed the ‘Nike Air’ brand?
How is technology developing the footwear design industry?
- Prior to the job interview, research footwear technology as some job interveiwers will ask questions to test your knowledge of technology that currently use.
- List different footwear technology widely used in the industry, stating the pro’s and con’s of each of them.
- Finally, give an example of you using technology in your business as usual duties.
Give me an example of using computer-aided design (CAD) software and graphics packages to create a strong product that creates buy-in from a client?
- When answering this interview question, give a detailed description of the whole process:
- Talk about receiving the client brief, and the creation of ideas – what was on the brief that helped to shape the footwear you designed?
- Discuss which technology you used to create a sample shoe or trainer. If designing a specialist shoe IE for a disabled person, what did you take into consideration?
- Explain how the shoe sample was presented to the customer and anything you said to encourage the order.
What factors do you take into account when designing footwear?
- Link the factors to the position you are applying for. IE, for mountain shoes, you would consider waterproofing, grip and ankle support.
- Talk about the project cost, materials and timeframe.
- Discuss how you look at the design to the production project plan.
What considerations do think about when a client asks you to design footwear based on a theme (ready-to-wear, high street)?
- State how you first discuss the design with the client to ensure the specifics are correct – as this saves time.
- Next, explain how you review older designs and market research to help ensure the new design will be popular.
- Finally, list the common factors; cost, material, timeframe.
What questions do you ask when reviewing the project brief with a client?
- What is must or desired
- Materials and quality vs cost
- Is the project for design only or does it include production?
- Timeframes
- Any project risks.
Give an example of collaborating with a design team?
- Answer this interview question with a real-life example;
- Discuss the project brief and any discussions with the client
- Talk about sharing ideas with the design team, and how a final idea was chosen.
- Explain the process for creating a sample shoe and how the design team looked for faults.
Share a time when you worked on a product to improve the design?
- Explain the original problems with the current design and what the show wasn’t selling
- Discuss how you look at the fault to find possible solutions
- Talk about sharing ideas with the design team and quality check measures you undertook
- Finally, give a positive outcome to the -redesign. This could include how the new shoes sold well.
How do you handle stressful situations, especially when having to meet deadlines?
- Answer this question with a real-life example;
- State the situation; the design brief, timeline and any pressure the design team was under.
- Talk about how you prioritised tasks based on urgency and importance, and how this process keeps you calm and under control.
- Give an outcome – how the shoe was designed on time to a high quality
Do you have any questions for me?
- Ask about company expansion
- Ask if the company is looking to enter a new shoe market
- Ask about training and development
- Ask about company culture.
