Stefan Sagmeister’s new shoe designs are actually walking infographics
Data visualization turns charts, data, and statistics into something easier to comprehend. Turning that data viz into shoes makes the data into a functional conversation starter. That’s what the Austrian graphic designer Stefan Sagmeister did with two shoes he designed for Ekn, a German footwear brand, that are on view at his exhibition Finally, Something Good at the Paris gallery Gaîté Lyrique…
Data visualization expert Stefan Sagmeister has created two innovative shoes that function as walking infographics, showcasing important information about renewable energy and homelessness. The exhibition featuring these shoes, titled Finally, Something Good, is currently on display at Paris' Gaîté Lyrique gallery through April 2027. [Photo: © Marek Bäuerlein]
The first shoe, named Bring It On, is a multicolored sneaker that exemplifies renewable electricity. Its design is based on data from the Energy Institute’s 2024 Statistical Review of World Energy. Each color panel on the shoe represents a different energy source, with yellow being the largest color, signifying hydropower, followed by black for wind, pink for solar, and red for all other renewable sources.
Sagmeister notes that the shoe is already outdated, as the solar resource surpassed wind power in 2025 figures. [Photo: © Felix Schöppner, Stephan Braubach, Mirko Müller]
His second shoe, Like a Complete Unknown, is a boot that visually represents the relative homeless populations of six countries. Using OECD data, each circular appliqué on the boot corresponds to the number of people living in the streets and public spaces per 100,000 inhabitants. The largest circles are for the U.S. at 76, Germany at 46, followed by the U.K. (16), France (8), Mexico (5), and Japan (2).
Sagmeister explains that although the numbers are not perfect, Mexico, a much poorer country, still reports a fifteenth of the American rate, highlighting the importance of decision-making in addressing homelessness. [Photo: © Marek Bäuerlein]
Sagmeister, who has volunteered for the Coalition for the Homeless, emphasizes that while the numbers may seem arbitrary, they reveal that the solutions to these issues are not set in stone. He hopes that the shoes will encourage viewers to recognize that neither renewable energy data nor homelessness is a fixed fate. "When the number of people sleeping in the street runs from two to 76 per 100,000 across six countries, it shows that decisions can be made differently," he states.
The shoes are available for purchase on Ekn's website, with a portion of the proceeds going to support climate innovation and homelessness advocacy.
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