Speakers’ Corner gives you a preview of the voices you’ll hear at upcoming PI events, straight from the people shaping fashion and footwear.
In this edition, Gregg Meyer, Chief Sustainability Officer at Steve Madden, shares why radical transparency, human-led decision-making, and collective action are essential to navigating regulation, sustainability, and meaningful transformation in footwear.
1) What’s the most underrated capability or mindset teams need to build today?
Radical transparency. Our team is founded on the premise that change can only be affected by clear-sighted, realistic hard work. I like to share what we are working towards with complete honesty, and the full admission that we have a large ship to turn around. Our team is a beautiful group of skills and personalities. It is my honor to lead thoughtful, incremental transformation, with true consensus.
2) How are sustainability and circularity influencing the way you design or source products?
The supply chain mapping, which our GHG reporting requires, provides a chance for us to examine our sourcing from a 1000 miles up, and look for opportunities to maximize synergies, and eliminate duplication of effort across our brand portfolio. What began as a necessary exercise is becoming a spur to creative thought, and paving the way for the implementation of systemic, sustainable change.
3) Do you think AI will replace or empower footwear designers?
Steve Madden is committed to the central importance of humans in the value chain. Our only interest in AI is for it’s possibilities for eliminating busy work and freeing our designers up to create great product.
Yes, to rapid CAD’ing.
No, to the senseless iteration of designs outside the context of intelligent, thoughtful design decisions grounded in technical knowledge.
Yes, to rapid prototyping with 3D printing.
No, to the fun house mirror of asking AI to generate forms for us to weed through for ideas.
Yes, to Digital Product Passports as a tool for honest communication.
No, to overly intrusive algorithms, which infantilize and constrain consumers’ ability to roam and dream.
Large language models are really just blurring the theft of a million human ideas into apparent ‘thought’. We believe in tools, not digitized guesswork.
4) What’s one piece of advice you’d give to a brand trying to modernize its development pipeline?
Establish how you truly operate today. Understand the strains on all parties in the supply chain. Solicit ideas from the people doing the work. Listen to ideas from everyone who will be tasked to operate differently. Chances are they can identify inefficiencies within in their scope of work. The Footwear industry is a giant target for any number of Solution Providers, but many of them are just hoping to apply what they’ve developed for other industries; understand how we differ from Ready-to Wear etc. Shoes are complex, and infrastructure for systemic change is costly; participate in Collective Action within the industry. Join The Footwear Collective.
5) One word that sums up where the footwear industry’s heading next year?
Regulation. What seemed like a scary deadline to meet EU and California regulations, we are now re-examining as the imperative case for our work. When change is inevitable, prepare to enjoy it! Business requires a business case. Our staff and shareholders worldwide rely on the profitable operation of the entity, so any conditions of doing business which can propel change are a gift to a CSO.
6) Finish this sentence: In 2026, great footwear design will be….
...democratic, affordable, responsible and life-enhancing. There is so much fear and uncertainty circulating in our news cycle. The hunger for hope and peace is real. Shoes are the products which literally ground us. Let them be thoughtfully made, and offer comfort and joy. By which I mean the true comfort of knowing that they are ethically made, for reliable wear, and the real joy of knowing that they are designed by humans for other humans.
To hear more from Gregg, join us at Stride USA where he'll will be joining the panel 'How Do We Balance Brand, Creativity & Innovation in an Age of Reinvention?'
