We will tell you about the different stages of manufacturing your IKO & NOTT sneakers.
Made in Portugal in a small factory.
Together we will go through all the stages of a pair of sneakers before you wear them.
- The drawing
It all starts with the drawing, we design all our models in Paris in our offices. The colors as well as the details of the shoe often come later depending on the materials we find.
- The choice of materials
We send our design to our factory in Portugal. With them, we think about colors as well as materials. This can take a long time. This is the most interesting part: the research, the discussions, the creation of the product. In addition, sneakers need resistance so that you can wear them in all weathers. This step can take up to six months.
- Prototyping
The model maker from our factory draws the pattern of the shoes. It tries to conform as much as possible to the design, but while integrating maximum comfort. At the end we get the exact patterns of the shoe in all its forms.
- Cutting the material
Once we have the shoe prototype, it's time to move on to creating the sneaker. The first step is cutting the materials. In the workshops, they use cookie cutters to cut out the shapes.
- Assembly
Once the pieces are cut, they will be assembled, which is called stitching. The pieces are sewn together on a plastic form (perpetually reused), to have the shape adapted to the feet. At this point, we move on to filling: the edge is folded then glued and sewn to have a perfect finish.
- Mounting
The shoes are assembled and the outsole is integrated. The sneakers are starting to look like the final version! They are then put in the oven to shape them.
- Finishes
It is at this stage that we integrate "the first" (the inside of the shoe), the laces and the paper to stuff the shoe. There are also lots of little details to have a perfect sneaker: burn the little threads that stick out, put them in their pretty recycled boxes, put the recycled tissue paper and also our recycled thank you card. They are then delivered to Paris before arriving in your mailboxes.
Before obtaining the final version of a pair we took more than a year to obtain the shape, color and materials we wanted. We have learned to be patient to be able to make your IKO & NOTT for you.
We hope you enjoyed reading these lines and that you learned a lot about making a pair of sneakers.
Melisande & Yasmine