Iron Social · 2025
Dino Stride Adaptive Sneakers
by Eric Paskach
- A' Design Award 2025 in Social
- CLIENT: Iowa State University of Science and Technology
- Estimated Number of Design Views: 31,158
- Verification code 432BE85AB7 · Verify this award
Colors
About Dino Stride Adaptive Sneakers
Dino Stride is an adaptive sneaker designed for young children who wear ankle-foot orthoses. The upper is made of a breathable mesh knit that reduces the heat built up between the foot and the orthosis. A deep sole gives space and support for the orthosis while keeping the usual height of a child's shoe. Side zippers let the front of the shoe fold open, so putting the shoe on and taking it off is quick and simple. Dinosaur details and a camouflage pattern add a playful character. The design supports comfort, fit and confidence during rehabilitation.
About the A' Design Award
Dino Stride Adaptive Sneakers is an Iron A' Design Award winner, a prestigious recognition granted to good designs that meet the professional and industrial requirements expected from well-designed creations. Iron winners demonstrate great skill, high specialization, expert understanding, and creative capacity of their creators. Dino Stride Adaptive Sneakers is expected to be a highly regarded, admired, and cherished creation that is practical and innovative. This Iron A' Design Award-winning design integrates industry best practices and has competent technical characteristics linked with know-how and talent. Dino Stride Adaptive Sneakers is respected for its thoroughness and is designed to provide quality of life improvements that help make the world a better place.
Press Kit
- Unique Properties
- 1 in 345 children are born with cerebral palsy. That is a huge number of children that not only need lower-limb orthotics, but special shoes as well. In the orthotics-friendly footwear market, there is a massive disconnect in communication leading to a final product that completely neglects the user's needs.
Dino Stride solves these issues with an orthotics-friendly shoe that is functional, stylish, and fun, making orthotics more engaging for children, and aiding rehabilitation. - Dimensions & Packaging
- The physical model was designed for the average three to four-year-old boy using an ankle-foot orthosis to keep fit while wearing the orthotics a top priority.
The shoe itself is approximately 100mm x 200mm x 125mm - Tags
- adaptive, shoes, orthotics, AFO, children, dinosaur, footwear, cerebral palsy, kids, friendly
- Production Technology
- Empathic design is an approach that brings critical insights into the design process. Throughout this project, I did not only gather data from interviews, surveys, and secondary research. Through firsthand experiences, I immersed myself in the world of those who rely on orthotic-friendly footwear. I understood their frustrations and felt their desire for something better. Every choice was driven by what I had learned, ensuring the final design truly serves the children who need it most.
- Design Challenge
- The biggest challenge of this project was reshaping the shoe form to comfortably accommodate an orthotic without sacrificing the look and feel of a typical kids' shoe. Every child deserves to feel confident and included, so it was crucial to design something that blends in seamlessly with their peers' footwear. Through several iterations, the final design emerged, one that works comfortably with orthotics while prioritizing style, comfort, and the joy of simply being a kid.
- Research
- For Dino Stride, I conducted surveys and interviews of caregivers of children with lower-limb orthotics, empathic role-play of the child and orthotist, and studied research relating to gait, orthotics, and footwear for orthotics. The objective was to identify which issues were most prevalent for children with lower-limb orthotics. Style, fit, and width were the most prevalent issues. The surveys and interviews conducted provided the most critical insight for design decisions.
- Inspiration
- Children with disabilities are often disregarded in the world of design. Most equipment designed for these children is simply downscaled versions of technology made for adults. This practice neglects the fact that these users are children and that their wants and needs are far different from those of adults. Therefore, children with disabilities need products designed specifically for them.
I was inspired to make a change in the orthotics-friendly footwear market which suffers from this exact problem. - Project Duration
- This project started in January 2024 and finished in May 2024. It was exhibited in Ames Iowa at Iowa State University in May 2024
- Operation Flow
- The upper is made of a breathable mesh knit to mitigate the heat generated from the foot against the orthotics. A deep sole provides space and support for the orthotics while maintaining the typical height of a kid's shoe. Side zippers allow the front of the shoe to fold open for fast and easy donning and doffing while wearing the orthotics. The dinosaur details and camo pattern add necessary character and fun to the shoe to help with acceptance of the orthotics and self-confidence.
- Patents
- Copyrights belong to Eric Paskach, 2025
- Image Credits
- Image #5: Photographer Bjorn Iverson, 2024
