The image below is the epitome of humble beginnings. I wanted to see if it was even worth moving forward so I decided with the skateboarding Adidas I had and some water bottles I could at least test of encapsulated water was enough to support my weight. To my surprise it worked extremely well. It wasn't stable but it got the job done and gave me the confidence to try this idea out once again - for real this time.
You might be wondering what happened in 2020. I started a completely different small business that was somewhat successful. Fortunately, I could shake this feeling that my heart was set on creating something special in the footwear space - whether is worked or not; I just wanted to try. During the beginning of 2021, I spent most of my time teaching myself Apple's coding language, Swift. With which I started building apps for the Apple Watch, which was also very exciting. Like I said, i still couldn't shake the feeling of being a part of sneaker history if I could. This time I had a much better head on my shoulders and decided to take another stab at it. I had one problem: I still had to find someone who was as enthusiastic about this project and had the knowledge and capability of bringing it to life. Fiverr was already out of the picture. It was time to look elsewhere.
Finding an engineer had it's hurdle of challenges. We first messaged a few footwear engineers via Upwork. Our first attempt lead us to someone who stated that for $2,000.00 they could get us a prototype in 3 months. This sounded completely ridiculous but I was naive and thought "hey, maybe this is possible." The next issue I had with this individual was that they wanted me to show them my top 10 favorite silhouettes for inspiration - this rubbed me the wrong way. I didn't want to have any inspiration from any other sneakers - this had to be completely unique. So I asked, "Are you sure you'd be able to engineer a new footwear cushioning in that amount of time?". "Yes, if we get started now you'll have it by November or December." I consulted with some other qualified candidates and asked my girlfriend for advice on this guy. Everything pointed to one move: Run. This guy was more than likely some sort of scammer unfortunately. Luckily, I did not end up sending this individual any money for this Project.
The date was October 12th, 2021 when we finally found our footwear engineer who believed in our vision and had a clear cut path on how to take us from thought to a prototype. The next problem was: it was extremely expensive. I had around $2,000.00 at the time. Our official footwear engineer was worth his weight in gold and required around $5,000.00 just to get started on drawings. I knew of one way to make quick money: Uber Eats & Doordash.
Late 2021 has become some of the most pivotal moments in the Hydronaut's short history. Our engineer and I were already not sure how the "water bag would function but because the design had to come first - we were unsure if the water should be exposed or kept safe within an encased foam structure. Having no experience, I had no idea which would make more since. But, I did know that when you do something new and daring that others will want to see it. I decided that it should be seen but not only by the heel but also underfoot. When someone takes a jog others around them will also be able to see the exposed water bag. This meant we had to make sure the TPU had to be much more durable than ever before. When adding new features, it appears that it will expose a whole new set of challenges. I don't feel overwhelmed. With the team we had, I have the upmost confidence in our capabilities to execute such a project.
We often get questions regarding the weight of the water within the shoe. It's definitely a trade off when it comes to the weight. You most likely won't be sprinting in a pair of Hydronauts but it's not impossible. My theory is that with most of the weight behind underfoot and well distributed that it wouldn't feel as heavy on foot compared to models that carry weight above your foot such as the Nike Foamposite.
When asked by our designer how we wanted this silhouette to look, I'm not sure if my response was realistic or just made any sense at all. My response was "Even when the shoes are off and stationary, they still appear to be moving. Like a shoe from the 80's that they would've drawn to represent the future." Funny enough, I believed he still nailed it. These early iterations are all incredible but extremely hard to choose from. At some points, I let our designer have full control over bits and pieces because I had to admit - I didn't know best and pretending to know what would be best would only hurt this project.
Sneakers have more moving parts that you would ever imagine. It started becoming overwhelming with the amount of design decisions we had to make: Which eyestay design language fits, which direction should the midsole flow, the shape of the "water bag" window, etc. Extremely exciting, but overwhelming at the same time.
