SHOE TALKS with Julia and Lislie of @cucunewyork March 31, 2021

The two met working at Derek Lam- Julia was interning for Lislie-. She hadn’t thought of doing anything shows until she interned there (her background major was anthropology and Spanish). She then went back to school at @scadaccessorydesign for her Masters, and learned from @marcellmrsan and learned the making aspect of shoes there and had finished school with her own collection. She went straight back to New York and went back to work for Derek Lam, with Lislie. In the meanwhile, Lislie had worked in apparel, with schooling in women’s wear at Parsons. She had experienced making shoes with Howard, the famous shoemaking teacher at Parsons. She was working on the side- freelancing for Sam Edelman, then full time there, got into designing footwear- she then went back to school to get a Masters at the Cordwainers College at the London school of Design, for two years- making was fun for both of them- she would go into school early to work with the technicians to make, and learn. She came back to NY and worked for Derek Lam designing. Now she is a freelance designer and product developer.
Idea of Cucú came from both of them wanting to do kids shoes one day- and decided why not try it. First style just came from talking and sketching together on a back of a cab- 👯‍♀️✨to me, seems like shoe gals nerding out on shoes, sketching, and getting so excited, and went with the dream. ❤️ which is inspiring. They made the first few prototypes at Brooklyn Shoe Space, visiting after work hours for a few hours at a time. Then sent off to factories in Mexico. Once they found someone that worked with their materials, quantities, style, they say on average it takes about 5 rounds of samples, and approximately a year to develop their shoes.
During Covid they had a new style being developed and it dropped a year later, just recently. They also started making wooden puzzles- toys- and they plan to venture out into home goods too. They want the brand to be a lifestyle brand. They plan to expand into adult shoes too- but development takes time (and $) so they are taking it at a pace they can manage.
They both still hand sketch at first- and at times switch it up to using the iPad.
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ARCHIVE of the SHOE TALKS IGLIVE hosted by IGTV.
Brooklyn Shoe Space is a great shoemakers' class room space. You'll find all the basic equipment that you'll need to make a pair of shoes such as 5-in-1, high post machines, zig-zag machine, skiver, finishers, glue stations. It is a space for students to be creative, make a mess, and make shoes!
Due to Covid19, we have closed the storefront location where we shared a co-working space with multiple shoemakers. We now share our new space with SHOE GIRLS STUDIO, a creative footwear consultancy known for their high-touch and custom-fit collaborative approach to footwear and accessories design and development. If you are looking to launch your shoe project, AND learn how to make them yourself, or have in-house sample makers make samples for you, you’ve come to the right spot!
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