One thing that I love about hiking is its simplicity. You don’t have to invest in a bunch of gear to become a hiker—although some people do. All you need are a good pair of shoes and a pack filled with necessities, and you are off to the races.
At the same time, the sport of hiking is ripe for product innovation. Hikers are ready for products that improve performance, safety, and overall function. I mean, honestly, a good pair of shoes can be difficult to come by.
Which begs the question, how do hiking products come to market? What is the design process for a hiking shoe or pack?
On a cool spring day, I met with Susan Sokolowski, director of the Sports Product Design Program at the University of Oregon, and Henry Gilbert, one of her students enrolled in the program, for a hike on the Wildwood trail to find out.
The Hike
- Trailhead: Newberry Road Trailhead (45.605640, -122.823430)
- Distance: 5.1 miles out and back with longer options
- Elevation Gain: approximately 531 feet
- Details: Limited parking at the trailhead which is a pullout on the side of the road. No restrooms are available. Roads to the trailhead are paved making access easy. This is the northern terminus of the 31.1-mile Wildwood trail.
It was raining hard right just a few minutes before I pulled up to the trailhead. The trees still glistened with fresh drops clinging to the tips of the branches. I found Susan and Henry just down the road a bit from where I parked, and we got started. A trail running event looked to be coming to an end as we arrived, and a table of volunteers welcomed us to the forest.
We took off at a moderate pace down the trail. The green conifer forests promising some level of protection if the sky decided to open again.
What it takes
We started with introductions.
Henry introduced himself as a student, originally from Salt Lake City, in his first year in the Sports Product Design program at UO. His background is in electrical engineering.
“I heard about this program, and I was super excited about it,” said Henry, “I have a passion for hiking.”
Susan introduced herself as the professor and director of the sports product design program. Her background is in design, as well as human factors engineering and kinesiology. She earned her master’s degree at Cornell University under Susan Watkins, the mother of functional design, and from there entered the sports design space at the University of Minnesota, co-majoring in biomechanics and design.
“When I went to school, I was definitely an oddball student,” Susan laughed.
The Design Process
We continued along the well-worn path under the canopy of Douglas-fir and western redcedar. Sword fern dominated the understory along with a myriad of herbaceous forest plants, including vanilla leaf and yellow stream violet.
As we hiked, I asked Susan for an overview of what she does as a sports product designer.
She began her explanation with a mission statement:
“Our mission is to push the field with game-changing solutions for athletes that push performance and society.” She continued, “we are looking at performance, but also in the sports industry, especially sports products, there is a large movement to look into equity in sport—and that is part of it as well.”
This is what sports product design—at least how she does it—aims for. But how does it get there?
“We use a design process that it similar to the scientific process,” entertained Susan.
As Susan explained, the process starts with a line of inquiry based on “how could we” or “how might we” statements—something akin to a hypothesis of sorts. From there ideation begins and the process of prototyping.
“Our program really values creating concepts and physical prototypes,” Susan expounded.
Once the prototypes are built, they are tested. This usually involves athletes or users trying the product and giving feedback.
Of course, just like in science, testing doesn’t always lead directly to the production and marketing of a product. Often the results of testing may require a step back or two. The design process is not linear.
Product Testing
We soon crossed over a small wooden footbridge as we made our way further into the forest.
I asked Susan to elaborate more on the product testing side of things.
“There are infinite ways to test products,” Susan replied. “We could be testing for ease of use, regulation, impact protection, a feeling, accuracy… anything you can want an athlete to do, or have a better experience with, you can be testing for.”
On the practical side of things, the most common method used for testing is calling in a focus group. Asking people to experience the product and give feedback is the minimum expected for testing.
Then there are more complex methods using equipment, like thermistors or environmental chambers, for example.
Things get even more complicated if you are making a claim or in the business of making products that are more dangerous, like helmets. It is in these instances that, according to Susan, “testing becomes very important.”
“Companies have been shut down,” said Susan, “when testing wasn’t up to snuff.”
So, depending on the product, testing could take a long time, even years.
Hiking Shoes
At this point, we were beginning to encounter a good deal of mud on the trail. I could feel the traction of my hiking shoes failing as the slick clayey mud started to gum things up.
“What about hiking shoes?” I asked, “Let’s say you want to design hiking shoes.”
Susan was quick to admit that hiking shoes are not only a challenge for people to shop for but also a challenge to design. On top of that, there hasn’t been the level of effort put into hiking shoes as there has been for other products, like running shoes.
“Hiking is complicated,” said Susan, “because, like we are hiking on mud today which is different than hiking on something like snow or ice…”
In general, certain features should be considered to deal with the all-terrain use of hiking shoes, including traction performance, flexibility, water migration, waterproofness, and stability.
Methods for testing will often vary by company. Though there is some standard testing. A wear test—where a group of people wears and compares the product to a baseline is another possible method. Wear tests can be as short as trying a product for an hour of exercise, for as long as a few weeks or even a month. Longer than that and designers can’t meet product timelines that very much rely on a season product launch cycle.
According to Susan, the sizing and fit of hiking shoes are also important to test.
Even though shoes are often built to a particular size model, the materials and how they respond to wear vary a lot. Thicker material might make the size envelope a bit smaller. Stretchy material may make it larger.
Duct Tape
We walked further down the trail.
Henry chimed in regarding his experience with product testing shoes. “It was interesting to see what they (the designers) were looking for,” he said.
One such “look for” were hot points and blisters—a common ailment among hikers, especially in certain conditions.
Susan told me about a time she did a hiking race on hot asphalt. “My feet were burning!” She exclaimed. “I had to wrap them in duct tape.”
I told the group about a backpacking trip on sand that had a similar effect.
The good news?
“I learned duct tape is amazing,” said Susan.
I mean duct tape does fix everything. And in the design world what better tool can you turn to in a time of crisis?
“We aren’t afraid of duct tape,” Susan agreed.
Testing Woes
The weather continued to hold up as we walked along. Thought the mud only seemed to pick up. I told Susan and Henry we could go as far as they wanted.
“We won’t go 30 miles,” was Susan’s comical reply. These two were just plain fun to hike with.
Henry is not the only design student to be recruited for product testing.
“Companies know that they (her students) understand product,” confided Susan. “It is hard to get good product feedback,” she went on.
If one thing is “wrong” with the product, often time feedback will come back negative, and the positive qualities of a product will be lost. Susan told me how countless times she has had testers come back with comments about the color of a product.
“I didn’t like the purple ones,” Susan mimicked a difficult tester. “It can be really polarizing.”
If even there is a more substantial complaint, like an uncomfortable high top on a boot, often all other feedback is lost on this one major complaint.
Research
Of course, before product testing, comes a different type of feedback—research.
“If the research isn’t there, then the design is completely invalid,” Henry confessed.
Research usually comes in the form of interviews with potential users and looking at existing products on the market. Science also supports and informs product design.
Henry shared a project he worked on designing a base layer for visually impaired skiers using haptic technology to communicate with their guides. He interviewed several visually impaired skiers to determine where best to place the haptics.
Research is imperfect though.
“Sometimes you will design something fully based on science,” said Susan, “but then someone will put it on, and it can nullify the invention.”
Synergy
Soon we reached a large, upended tree—its roots sticking out at us onto the trail and a sticky, thick mud bath below. As we carefully picked our way around it, or in some cases slid our way, I asked Susan to tell me more about how science informs product design.
She laughed because in a lot of ways it doesn’t.
“There is a lot of research that happens in the lab that never gets applied,” said Susan. “In the pure sciences, you get a finding and move on.”
Pure sciences are often funded that way. Scientists are supported for the initial body of work—to answer a specific question. Once that knowledge is obtained the funding dries up.
However, at least at the University of Oregon, Susan is seeing a change—a shift to more collaboration between pure and applied science that seems to really be paying off.
Susan is part of the Wu Tsai Alliance—a group comprised of scientists from a variety of backgrounds with the common goal of understanding human performance.
“The group formed last year, but we are already seeing the synergies,” said Susan. “For example, a biomedical engineer designed and sensor, and one of my students is taking the sensor and putting it into footwear for their thesis project,” she elaborated.
Fighting for Women
Like the obstacles to collaboration, the Wildwood trail continued to throw log hops in our way. As we clambered over another one, I asked Susan to share a bit about the projects she is involved in.
“I have my fingers in a lot of different things,” was her unsurprising response. She didn’t seem the type to take life sitting down.
“I am finishing some research on size and fit issues for women firefighters,” Susan shared one of her projects.
“Gear for women isn’t really designed for women,” she explained. As a result, women firefighters are getting hurt. A fact that has been known for over a decade but hasn’t been acted on until now.
Susan hopes to change all that by identifying important knowledge gaps.
As a next step, she is also working with another scientist that does machine learning to analyze 3-dimensional body scans of athletes. The goal is to understand geometries beyond the basic chest-waist-hip measurements and interpret findings into better product performance.
Runners High
Susan is also using machine learning and body scans to better understand women’s running. She plans to survey thousands of runners and pair that data with scans to look for unknown patterns that relate to running performance. She hopes to tease out what is talked about in the common press when it comes to performance—to identify what works and what is just hype.
Innovate
At this point, Susan, Henry, and I reached a trail sign near a fire lane. Having gone a few miles, we decided to turn around. Thankfully the rain continued to hold off as we retraced our steps back.
Then I asked Henry, what he wanted to do with his career. His answer boiled down to one word—innovate.
“In our field, there is true athletic product innovation,” said Susan.
However, the focus of that innovation has shifted over the years, leaving many sports neglected. According to Susan, outdoor sports, like skiing and climbing, are ripe for innovation.
Hiking is another one.
“Running shoes are designed for environmental and biomechanical needs,” Susan explained. “Hiking shoes haven’t really gotten there yet….that is why people go to trail running shoes.”
Environmental Wear
Another area ripe for innovation is waterproofing.
Though there are some products that work better than others, waterproofing than be challenging. For one, it doesn’t last. And secondly, the chemistry is bad for the environment.
“It is part of the Teflon family of chemicals,” said Susan.
So, companies turn to more environmentally friendly alternatives, but at a cost—a loss in product quality.
Walking through a beautiful green Douglas-fir Forest, it is hard not to want to protect it. So, I asked Susan, how we are doing in the sports industry with making environmentally safe products?
“We are not doing well,” was her blunt response. As the sports product industry shifted from cotton and wool materials to synthetics in the 1960s and 1970s, sustainability went out the window.
“It is concerning when you learn more about it,” said Henry.
However, there is some hope for the future. According to Susan, natural fiber companies are working on innovating to create more biobased products.
In addition, there has been an uptick in transparency regarding the sustainability of products. For example, Marmot now ranks products for their sustainability versus performance.
“Companies are going to be held accountable, “Susan commented. She mentioned a panel she was on in Europe where there was a discussion on taxing people for purchasing unsustainable products. “I think we may see things like that in the future,” she continued.
Recycle, Reduce, Reuse
A few other ways companies are combating the issues of sustainability and durability are through the reuse and recycling of products. Companies like Patagonia will buy back products and repair them for resale. Other companies will recycle products to make something new.
Repair is another major movement. Susan mentioned Fjallraven in Portland’s Pearl District providing repair and waxing stations for waterproofing.
Keep it Simple
We continued working our way back to our cars, climbing the logs and sliding over the same mud slicks we encountered on our way in. As we were nearing the trailhead, I asked Susan and Henry for some consumer tips for buying products.
“For me, it is not to overdo it,” said Susan. She recommended choosing clothing that is comfortable, fits well, and allows for mobility. It isn’t necessary to have high-tech gear on a day hike. Even jeans may be acceptable in most conditions.
“There is a lot of discussion around equity in sport,” Susan said, “especially hiking.” According to Susan, people see it as a “white sport” and only for the “affluent,” but hiking is for everyone.
By keeping things simple, she hopes more people will see themselves on the trail.
Wear and Tear
Another tip Susan emphasized was wear.
“If you haven’t fully worn in something, you can have a really bad experience,” said Susan.
“Your body changes when you are hiking,” she continued. “Feet and hands can swell, for example.”
Taking the time to try out gear in a low stakes environment and wear it in is key to an enjoyable outdoor experience.
Luckily, some companies are creating return policies that allow consumers to really try out products before they fully commit to purchasing.
Functional Innovation
Innovative products that improve functionality is something else to look out for and consider when purchasing items.
Susan mentioned innovation in hydration as another example. Camelback and other bladder systems allow for a hands-free experience, while filters allow for longer and safer outdoor experiences. Both innovations have revolutionized outdoor sports.
Even something as simple as having the right size or style of pockets can make or break a product.
Keep Improving
As we neared the trailhead, I asked Susan one more question—Why does sports design matter?
According to Susan, sports product design is about maximizing human potential. It is also about the benefits of engaging in sport – like health and happiness, available to everyone.
“There are an infinite number of problems to solve,” said Susan, referring to the sports product industry.
Fortunately, the process of product design is iterative. And with new tools for design, products are improving.
Body scanning and machine learning are changing how products can be made. It may be that mass production changes in the future and more personalized sizing will become available to everyone.
“The tech is already there,” Susan remarked. “I know scientists that can look at your Facebook picture and tell what your body scan looks like.”
Hike Happy
In the meantime, consumers and hikers have a lot of options to choose from when it comes to sports product design. There are still some problems to solve. But, by keeping it simple and choosing products that function and wear well, you can still enjoy the benefits.
So, take a hike through the woods. Climb a mountain if you will. Paddle or float. Whatever sport you engage in, keep it simple and wear what works for you.
Perhaps Henry’s advice is most apt and to the point: “You got to wear what makes you happy.”
Susan Sokolowski, Ph.D., is the director of the Sports Product Design Program and the University of Oregon. She has over 25 years of experience in the sports product industry.