Macarena Yagüe, a second-year fashion and design student at Regent’s University London, triumphed in HOFF’s recent competition to design a limited-edition sneaker for the brand. The sneaker will now be produced before going on sale in HOFF’s new flagship store on Regent Street in London.
Macarena Yagüe said: “To win the award feels amazing. I really didn't think it would be me because my colleagues did such an amazing job with their designs. I'm in shock right now, very happy and very excited. It means the world to me. To have a design that will be in Regent Street, in the new HOFF store, that's a great opportunity as a starting designer and as an experience. It means truly everything to me.”
The winning design was picked through a public vote on HOFF’s website and social media before an expert jury made the final decision. The jury included:
Louise Roe, TV host, fashion journalist, and founder of Sharland England
Remy Farrell, fashion editor at Who What Wear
Alberto Giménez, designer at HOFF
Gracey Ama Taah II Owusu-Agyemang, designer
Khudija Zaib Lughmani, designer and co-founder of Dijàgo Studios
Paco Valiente, Chief Digital & Marketing Officer at HOFF
The jury were impressed by Yagüe’s use of colour and felt that she had tapped into a palette that spoke to HOFF's core design principles and brought a unique Regent's tone to the brand. During the panel event, Alberto Giménez asked Yagüe about her practice and was impressed to learn that she had painted every stroke by hand.
Giménez said: “I've seen a lot of meaning behind the design – not just graphics, colours and fabrics. I've been designing shoes for 17 years and it really excites me to be working with young people on this project.”
Yagüe’s design was inspired by art. She said: “A sneaker itself symbolizes grounding and evolution as we keep walking through life. For my design, I wanted water as a contrast. I found inspiration in the painting The White Boat by Spanish painter Sorolla. I wanted to honour the Spanish roots of the brand.”
Educating the next generation of designers
The competition was the culmination of a collaboration between HOFF and Regent’s University London. Known for its strong industry connections, Regent’s gives its undergraduate students opportunities to work with industry on real-world projects.
Ahead of the competition, HOFF designer Alberto Giménez and marketer Patricia Alguacil met with students in the university’s Innovation Lab, a space created in partnership with Huckletree that champions entrepreneurship and collaborative creativity.
The HOFF team shared their vision and design brief with the university’s second-year fashion students, encouraging them to be bold in their designs whilst maintaining wearability.
“There are no limits,” designer Alberto Giménez told students at the briefing. “If you want to do it, we will find a way.”
Students were given design templates and guidelines directly from the brand's design team. They then had three weeks to design and create their proposals before they were submitted to the HOFF team for a public vote and the final jury selection.
Yagüe will now work with the HOFF design and production team to select fabrics and translate her design into an actual sneaker. The sneaker will be on sale in HOFF’s Regent Street store in summer 2024.
