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Welcome to The Shoe College, Université des Chaussures.

The Shoe College was established in 2003 by master shoe designer/maker, Tamera Lyndsay, to help designers and would be designers learn first hand about their product by producing (in a working lab environment) complete prototypes from sketch to finished product. This pragmatic style of teaching brings an otherwise overwhelming myriad of skill sets and procedures down to earth.

The Shoe College's classes, courses and programs are lab based, linear, and experiential. The programs give designers and design students alike an edge by filling in the critical gap, that of first-hand knowledge of the product.

Being lab based, The Shoe College, Université des Chaussures provides an excellent opportunity to gain experience that cannot be obtained at any shoe design program currently offered in North American universities.

The Shoe College offers learning opportunities in all types of hand lasted footwear through scheduled classes, special course work, certificate programs, apprenticeships and internships at all skill levels and in all types of quality hand-made footwear both men's and women's.

Since we are a 100% private college, we are not beholden to the laise faire of the currently existing design programs. This means that we can (and do!) teach from the perspective of real working shoe designers/makers, and can bring a full array of experience to our students. In other words, we teach the real world stuff that you can't currently get from any university in North America. Our programs are created to pick up where CAD leaves off. A major thrust of The Shoe College's philosophy is not only to empower designers to make cost-saving and/or better fitting shoes through learning all about their product from a production POV, we also encourage and foster the return, growth and development of local, sustainable, and responsible business models.

Classes are conducted entirely in a working shoe lab in Northern Az. The Shoe College teaches, inspires and empowers students with the skills and knowledge to design and make their own prototypes and samples freeing them from the limitations of relying on the factory to produce the samples while at the same time, educating them, first hand, in how their design on paper really works in the actual end-product.

*Tamera Lyndsay began in NYC with couture millinery lines and worked her way down to the feet... eventually. Tamera's footwear & accessories (available in select stores and on a limited basis through her company's website, www.WilmaWorld.com) have been the best kept secret of the rich and famous for over 20 years. Tamera and her work have been featured in American Vogue, Rolling Stone, Viva (The Largest Selling Arab Womens' Magazine), The New York Times Magazine, Parade, The Grammy Gift Bags, Curve, About.com, the annual WHERE Guest Book, and other national and international publications.

Tamera currently spreads her time between teaching advanced classes at The Shoe College, producing collectable editions of wholesale women's footwear, and providing a prototype service to designers on a case by case basis. She maintains a limited number of bespoke footwear clients.