introduction
This project is a joint venture between me and color +material designer Dalton Griebel.
My main focus was footwear design, narrative building, and go-to-market strategy.
The NOBULL BRAnd
NOBULL is a footwear, apparel and accessory brand that builds products that perform when and where you need them. It's a brand for people who train hard and believe in:
No Excuses, No Gimmicks, No Bullshit.
Or in other words, it's a brand that stands for:
Responsibility, Honor, and Authenticity
Explosive growth
Founded in 2014 by 2 Reebok alumni, NOBULL started as a cult favorite with the Crossfit community and has raised over $32M with a $500M valuation cap. NOBULL grew sales and revenue by over 80% in 2020 and their recent fundraising round done in December of 2022 proves they're priming for further growth.
NOBULL consumer
NOBULL's primary consumers are fit and active women. To anchor our project, we want you all to meet:
Katrina Soriano
33 year old Filipino-American nurse. Back in high school she was a multi-sport high school athlete that played soccer, ran track, and ran cross country.
To focus on taking care of her first kid, she took a break from fitness and now she’s looking to get back into sports. She recently started CrossFit and goes to her local box gym in Los Angeles, California every morning before her shift at the hospital.
Three times a week she plays on a women's club soccer team in the evenings. On the weekends she plays soccer games, loves exploring art museums, going for long walks at outdoor malls, and spending time with her parents in West Covina, California but rumor has it she really does it for the homemade halo-halo her mom makes.
Opportunities for NOBULL
Transparency of material sourcing
Sustainability is table stakes for any fashion, footwear, and accessory brand so we got to thinking:
What vendor could NOBULL partner with to expand their color + material palette while also creating a transparent and sustainable supply chain?
A New Partner for NOBULL: TIONG LIONG Company (TLC)
TLC is a leading performance textile supplier that has been offering performance fabrics for over 40 years by means of eco-friendly processing techniques and smart manufacturing. They're dedicated to:
Sustainability, Innovation, and Efficiency
We believe there’s a natural synergy between NOBULL and TLC to partner together. NOBULL’s shoe catalog is almost exclusively knit uppers. By combining TLC’s material catalog of Marinylon, Ariaprene, 3M Thinsulate, and BioPDO we can not only enhance the performance of NOBULL consumers but also further the sustainability efforts of the NOBULL brand.
Design Theme
Design language
Color & Materials
Done by Dalton Griebel.
Footwear Project Statements
I sought to create 3 footwear concepts around 3 main cyclical experiences that Katrina Soriano and NOBULL consumers have: Train → Recover → Play
Train
Create a laceless performance daily trainer for the active Crossfitter that gives the ability to absorb impact while having a stable sole for Olympic lifting
Recover
Create a recovery gel slide for the active athlete that gives the ability to recuperate between workouts
Play
Create a performance soccer cleat for the serious soccer player that gives the ability to control and strike the ball with venomous force
Footwear Design Process
Ideation Phase 1
Ideation Phase 2
Ideation Phase 3 (CLEATS)
emboss/deboss exploration
Tape Up
LINEART
TRAIN
Recover
Play
FINAL RENDERINGS
Naming conventions
NOBULL is a no-nonsense brand when it comes to naming conventions. To fit into the brand aesthetic but also account for scalability I came up with a new naming convention system for shoes that fit into existing categories such as trainer or runner:
Old Naming Convention: Colorway + Shoe Type (adding a "+" if it's higher tech)
New Naming Convention: Colorway + Model Descriptor + Shoe Type (adding a "+" if it's higher tech)
Coral Reef Laceless Trainer+
Coral Reef Recovery Slide+
Coral Reef Cleat+
Coral Reef Jersey+
Halo-Halo Laceless Trainer+
Halo-Halo Recovery Slide+
Halo-Halo Cleat+
Halo-Halo Jersey+
Uni Laceless Trainer+
Uni Recovery Slide+
Uni Cleat+
Uni Jersey+
Material Maps for all COLORWAYS & models
Showcasing a sustainable material palette featuring TLC's innovative technology. Done by Dalton Griebel.
Go-To-Market Strategy
Sponsor Boston's Newest NWSL Expansion TEAM
Boston used to have a NWSL team called the Boston Breakers but they went defunct in 2018. It was announced in January that Boston has been rewarded a NWSL expansion team and so now women's professional soccer is coming back to New England.
Now is the time for NOBULL to become the main jersey sponsor to penetrate the soccer market. Here are renderings of the jerseys that can be sold through NOBULL's website and in retail.
Home Jersey
Away Jersey
Alternate Jersey
