Between The Lines 030 : Martin Sallières
The Independent Evolution of Martin Sallieres
A long-time friend of the platform and independent designer carving his own path through footwear, Martin Sallières has quietly helped shape the visual language of brands like SUNNEI, while continuing to build a distinct world of his own. His route into footwear started somewhere unexpected…cars. Sallières moved toward footwear when he realised shoes offered something automotive design couldn’t quite provide, with fewer fixed constraints and far more room to experiment. What followed is a body of work built on balance. Technical without feeling overworked. Clean without losing the presence of the human hand. He sketches quickly with a Sharpie, leaving behind small doodles and loose gestures that capture just enough of the idea before moving almost immediately into tech packs and sampling. For Sallières, the real design process begins once the object exists in three dimensions. The last, the proportions, the way colour and material interact, these are the stages where the shoe starts to reveal itself. The process tells him when to stop.
That mindset runs through the entire brand. One of his earliest shoes borrowed from track-and-field spikes, reframing performance references into something designed for everyday wear. The outsole, hand-drawn and slightly irregular, introduced a sense of looseness and whimsy that stopped the product from feeling overresolved while remaining unmistakably his. Sallières describes the brand almost like a portfolio in motion, a space to test ideas, refine proportions, and slowly build a recognisable design language over time. In the conversation that follows, we speak with Martin about process, restraint, prototyping, and why some of the strongest ideas only emerge once the sketch is translated into physical form.
To mark the release of the interview, we worked with Martin to create a one-of-one collaborative edition of the Heel Drop Racer in Concrete Grey. Rather than simply producing another colourway, the project became a way of capturing this moment and sharing it directly with the community that has followed both Martin’s work and the platform over the years. Made as a true one-off, the pair exists as a rare intersection between conversation, process, and product, and will be given away exclusively to one community member.
Full details on how to enter can be found here.
