Renowned graphic designer Stefan Sagmeister is taking his data visualizations somewhere they rarely venture: onto the streets and onto people’s feet. In a striking collaboration with Frankfurt-based sustainable footwear label ekn, the Austrian designer has developed a unique sneaker and a leather boot that translate complex global statistics regarding renewable electricity generation and street homelessness into tangible, wearable design objects.
These two distinctive footwear designs are set to accompany Sagmeister’s major upcoming exhibition, Finally, Something Good., which opens to the public at La Gaîté Lyrique in Paris on October 15, 2026. Rather than simply taking existing printed artworks and slapping them onto the side of a shoe, this collaborative project represents a genuine synthesis of avant-garde graphic design and traditional, conscientious shoemaking. According to ekn founder Noel Klein-Reesink, the undertaking was fundamentally an exploration of what happens when Sagmeister’s distinct cognitive and visual methodology collides directly with ekn’s material expertise and manufacturing processes.
For Sagmeister, the primary allure of the project lies in the opportunity to bypass the traditional confines of the gallery space and reach an entirely different audience. In an exclusive interview discussing the collaboration, the designer notes that a painting hanging quietly inside a museum or gallery is typically only witnessed by individuals who have intentionally decided to enter that space. In contrast, a shoe is observed out on the open street by everyday passersby who made no such deliberate choice to view art.
This footwear-based initiative directly extends Sagmeister’s ongoing, multi-year exploration of long-term social progress through the medium of visualized data. He has previously explored these themes across a variety of mediums, including historic oil paintings, large-scale public installations, and household objects. Klein-Reesink immediately recognized a natural synergy between this data-driven artistic approach and the core ethos of modern footwear design. What has consistently fascinated the ekn team about Sagmeister’s body of work is his unique ability to distill vast, complicated information systems into immediate, compelling visual language. Through this partnership, the artwork no longer rests quietly, waiting patiently for gallery visitors to walk through the doors; instead, it actively moves through the world, catching the attention of commuters, shoppers, and travelers on their everyday journeys.
Renewable Energy and Homelessness Shape Two Distinct Shoe Designs
The collaborative collection comprises two unique footwear models, each tackling a vastly different global subject through its own material and graphic vocabulary. The first model, titled Bring It On, is a colorful suede sneaker designed to visualize worldwide renewable electricity generation spanning the decades from 1965 to 2022. This comprehensive dataset tracks multiple energy pathways, including hydroelectric, wind, solar, and other emerging renewable sources.
As the historical figures climb upward over time, they transform into a vibrant graphic composition spread gracefully across the shoe’s suede upper panels, while the complete, unedited dataset is printed directly onto the footbed. Explaining the construction of this model, Klein-Reesink points out that the various shapes and colors were carefully integrated to become an organic part of the sneaker’s overall aesthetic structure, keeping the deeper layers of information hidden intimately within.
For Sagmeister, the subject matter carries an immense personal and societal significance that far outweighs many contemporary technological obsessions. While much of the global cultural conversation remains fixated on the rapid rise of artificial intelligence, Sagmeister argues that the quiet, steady improvements in renewable electricity generation are far more consequential for the long-term trajectory of humanity. He points directly to the transformative possibilities that cheaper, more abundant renewable energy can unlock, ranging from large-scale vertical farming and water desalination to advanced carbon capture initiatives.
The second model in the collection, Like a Complete Unknown, pivots toward a much more somber and uncomfortable subject, giving it physical form through a cream-colored leather boot. The exterior of the boot features carefully embroidered graphics that visualize reported street homelessness across six different countries, drawing its underlying data directly from the OECD Affordable Housing Database.
The statistics mapped onto the leather reveal stark disparities across the globe, ranging from 76 individuals living rough on the street or in public spaces per 100,000 inhabitants in the United States, down to 46 in Germany, 16 in the United Kingdom, eight in France, five in Mexico, and a mere two in Japan.
Rather than relying on printed patterns, Klein-Reesink explains that the graphic elements were embroidered directly into the premium leather to create texture and permanence. Sagmeister, true to form, is refreshingly direct about the inherent limitations of such international comparisons, openly admitting that the numbers are far from perfect. Due to widely varying national definitions of homelessness and distinct data collection methodologies across borders, the figures cannot be treated as a flawless scientific measure of relative suffering. Yet, the designer firmly maintains that even imperfect statistics possess the vital power to spark uncomfortable public discussions that might otherwise remain abstract and ignored.
Ekn Brings Sagmeister’s Complex Graphics to Functional Footwear
Translating complex graphic data into functional, wearable footwear required a rigorous design process that went far beyond simply deciding where to place a splash of color or a stitched line. Both models were built upon existing ekn silhouettes, requiring extensive adaptation to fit the natural curves, overlapping panels, and structural constraints of actual footwear construction.
The Bring It On sneaker utilizes premium chrome-free tanned suede, while the Like a Complete Unknown boot pairs chrome-free tanned smooth leather with intricate embroidery. According to Klein-Reesink, realizing these designs involved a deeply iterative process characterized by constant communication with specialized embroidery workshops and manufacturing partners located in Portugal.
The manufacturing journey involved creating physical prototypes, evaluating them in person, altering minute details, and trying again until the balance was right. The central challenge throughout development was preserving Sagmeister’s uncompromising visual language without ever losing sight of the fundamental requirement that the final objects needed to function comfortably and durably as actual shoes.
This creative collision also brings to light a deliberate tension that neither partner attempts to sidestep: the inherent awkwardness of selling a luxury-priced boot that carries statistics about destitution and homelessness. Sagmeister readily acknowledges this paradox, noting that there is something inherently uncomfortable about a 350-euro boot bearing data on homelessness, and emphasizing that a charitable donation alone does not magically erase that contradiction.
Priced at 350 euros for the leather boots and 300 euros for the suede sneakers, the footwear collection incorporates a direct financial contribution model. Ten percent of the retail price from every single pair sold will be funneled directly to organizations operating within the respective fields. Specifically, 35 euros from each boot sale will be donated to the Coalition for the Homeless in New York, while 30 euros from each sneaker sale will support Future Cleantech Architects in Germany. While Klein-Reesink notes that these contributions do not completely resolve the philosophical friction between the commercial product and its heavy message, they form a crucial part of an earnest attempt to anchor the visualized information in tangible, real-world action.
Ekn Footwear Embraces Made-to-Order Production to Curb Waste
In keeping with the brand’s long-standing environmental philosophy, both models are handmade at an artisanal footwear workshop in Portugal and will be manufactured using a strict pre-order system rather than batch-produced in advance. Orders for the collaboration will be accepted exclusively during a limited window running from October 14 to November 15, 2026, with global deliveries scheduled to begin in January 2027.
Available across a full range of European sizes from 36 to 46, the shoes will enter production strictly according to actual consumer demand, a sustainable business model designed from the ground up to eliminate unsold inventory and minimize waste. Klein-Reesink emphasizes that the primary advantage of this approach is straightforward: once the pre-order window closes, the brand knows precisely how many pairs people actually want. For the founder, who originally established ekn in 2015, this system reflects a much broader philosophy of responsible manufacturing that looks far beyond superficial eco-friendly buzzwords. Sustainability, he stresses, is not merely about choosing a better material, but equally about controlling production methods, ensuring long-term product durability, and strictly managing output quantities.
Ultimately, the collaborative project returns to a relatively simple, enduring proposition: complex information becomes significantly more accessible and engaging when it is woven directly into the fabric of everyday life. Sagmeister’s upcoming exhibition, Finally, Something Good., investigates the vast psychological distance between widespread public perceptions of a declining world and the measurable, long-term positive developments that have occurred over time, using visual culture to challenge the overwhelmingly negative narratives that often dominate contemporary media.
These two distinctive pairs of shoes carry that ongoing investigation out onto the pavement, where a striking graphic might initially catch a passerby’s eye purely through its colors or unusual geometric composition, only to reveal a deeper, thought-provoking reality upon closer inspection. For ekn, good design is ultimately inseparable from making things properly and making them to last. Whether wearers ultimately find themselves deep in conversation about the expansion of renewable energy grids, the global crisis of homelessness, or simply the craftsmanship of their new footwear remains entirely open-ended. For Stefan Sagmeister, however, that resulting human exchange is precisely the point, capturing the essence of the entire artistic endeavor.
