Material-Driven Design as an Exploratory Approach for Environmental Sustainability-Oriented in Footwear Design: A Decision Support Framework

The footwear industry faces increasing pressure to reduce environmental impacts while maintaining competitiveness within fast-paced fashion cycles. In this context, there remains a significant gap between sustainability guidelines and their effective integration into the footwear design process and material selection has become a central challenge in sustainability-oriented footwear design. This paper proposes a conceptual approach to Material-Driven Design (MDD) for sustainability-oriented footwear design. Based on the original MDD methodology and the concept of Material Experience, the study develops an exploratory framework intended to support early-stage material decision-making in footwear design. Adopting an exploratory qualitative methodology grounded in literature review and conceptual framework development, the research expands the original focus of MDD by integrating footwear components, brand context, sustainability criteria, and market constraints into the material experience process. The proposed framework situates material decisions within specific industrial and commercial scenarios, considering not only technical and environmental performance, but also sensory, symbolic, emotional, and cultural dimensions. The study argues that extending MDD toward a broader systemic perspective may support more coherent sustainability-oriented decisions in footwear design by articulating experiential qualities with production realities and strategic brand demands. The paper contributes to the discussion of design methodologies for sustainability by proposing an exploratory decision-support framework adapted to the complexities of the footwear sector.