Mark San Buenaventura

Vasyli is a footwear company (housing brands Orthaheel, Vionic, Dr. Weil Footwear, and Vasyli medical orthotics) creating stylish footwear with Podiatrist Designed Technology. The I.P. is in the footbed; I design around it, from wedges to casual walkers.

Partnered up with Founder/President of DZR Shoes to co-teach the first footwear design class (BFA level) at the Academy of Art University, School of Industrial Design.
The intent was to emulate a typical footwear design department's creative/development process, from analyzing market opportunities to tech pack/sampling.

Along with in-class instruction (reference samples, videos, tutorials, working on lasts, etc.), we had them visit DZR Shoes HQ, go on a 'shopping' trip in the city, and had two guest speakers well-versed in the footwear industry (Footwear Design Director from The North Face and Product Manager from Teva).

DZR is the first to design and produce an SPD cleat compatible vulcanized sneaker.

An independent start-up, I was brought on board to assist the owners with:
–creative insight and execution (graphic design and product design/development)
–office management and customer service
–promotions and marketing activities

Also provided assistance in supervising interns (office management and design related) in 2011-2012

Assist footwear design team with colorways, design, and development solutions.

Footwear operations:
–Manage seasonal procurement of footwear product with Asia agents/factories
–Manage product allocation to domestic key accounts and dealers
Footwear product coordination:
–Oversee pre-production/development specifications for DVS and Lakai footwear lines; daily communication with Asia reps.
–Manage seasonal line sheets and sample library abiding by design and sales directions

Managed private label accounts; Oversee sampling/pre-production for clients to final logistics of ordered goods.