By Kenny Sanders, Camper Designer.

A while back, before the Volvo Ocean Race even started, we were heavily involved in designing sailing shoes for Emirates Team New Zealand. As a result, we decided it would also be great to develop a shoe for the team.

Following a visit to the CAMPER boat, we were inspired by how stripped back and minimal the whole space was. Everything had a reason for being there. It encouraged us to think about how we could apply the exact same philosophy to a shoe – to take things back to the bare bones of what you need. As a result, we set out to create our lightest shoe ever.

We selected lightweight upper textiles and microfibres and stripped things back to the bare essentials.

The attitude of the crew on the boat was also a huge inspiration. Although they are professional sportsmen working at the top of their game they still have this great laidback attitude and make time to have a laugh. A great combination!

The result was that we were able to combine a lot of new elements in one shoe; beautiful design, technical lightweight materials and an injected EVA midsole for support. All in all, we managed to achieve everything that we wanted without it feeling too complicated or forced.

We came up with the name Water Runner. It´s nice, it´s simple and it conjures up images of walking on water. I’m not saying that you’ll be able to run on water with these shoes but it could be a lot of fun trying!

The end result, I think, is a pretty versatile shoe which you can wear throughout the season and combine with different looks. Wear with a pair of jeans for an everyday casual look or, when the sun is shining, combine them with shorts for the ultimate summer sports styling.