Colombia to Calabasas: Yeezy Shoemaker Cesar Idrobo On Making It In the Sneaker Industry

Cesar Idrobo is a quiet guy, but he might also be one of the most talented people in the sneaker scene. Having grown up in Colombia, the designer is currently Head Pattern and Sample Maker at Yeezy, after being brought in by Design Director, Steven Smith. As more and more Hispanic talent is finally getting recognition within the sneaker industry (just look at Bad Bunny’s latest adidas launch!) we caught up with Idrobo to talk about his upbringing in Columbia, his career so far, biggest inspirations, and finally his top tips for nailing your dream job, wherever you come from. Read on to find out more…

I came from a modest upbringing. I didn't have everything I wanted to have, which I think was actually very good for creativity. When you don't have everything you have to work around it and create your own thing - create your own world. Sometimes I would put boxes on bottle caps, like car tyres. It was small things like that. I don't have any regrets about my upbringing in Colombia, it was modest and it was great. I spent a lot of time drawing and doing art projects because growing up I didn't have access to the latest gaming consoles. I think by not having access to those things, it helped me focus on my creativity and skills that I still use to this day. I also traveled a lot, and I lived in many different places and went to many different schools - I always had to adapt and learn to blend in, which is something that's helped me even now, in my job. I know when to stand up and when to step back.

I got a pair of shoes passed down from my aunt. She was living in the United States and she sent me a pair of Nike Pegasus. I was in seventh grade, and it was the first time I experienced having a very nice pair of sneakers. It was a feeling that I remember to this day: how I felt when I put them on and went for a run. I would always want to keep them on, even when they were worn out. For special occasions, you have to wear nice shoes, but I still wanted to wear the Nike ones because I really liked them. I would be told "No, you have to wear the smart shoes, don't wear those," and I'd just be like "No, I like these!"

With fashion, I think my earliest memories would be high school. Fashion started to become important - the brands and styles that you wore became a thing because you know, you want to impress the girls! For us in Colombia, Diesel is huge so we would try to wear that, so yeah - for fashion that's probably my earliest memory.

I think the choices I made influenced my journey more than my environment, as my parents have always been supportive of my creative endeavors. For me, taking oil painting throughout high school was great because it helped me refine my sensitivity for colour, texture, and proportions, and it helped me train my eye and my hand to create beautiful shapes, which now translates into the type of work I do. I need to be able to translate visions and ideas into tangible objects, so that's where all of that preparation has come in handy.

I wanted to learn to speak English, so my aunt told me I could come and do that, and then figure out what I wanted to do. They wanted me to be sure that I wanted to study industrial design - I was pretty sure that I wanted to do that, but they wanted me to be 150% sure. They didn't want me to be major hopping, they wanted me to spend my time wisely. I did English at The University of Florida, and I then decided to pursue my college degree. After a master's degree, I worked a couple of footwear design jobs, and now here I am at Yeezy.

For me, it was the perfect marriage of design, (well, art) with the technical aspect of how things work. It wasn't too much engineering, and it wasn't too much art. It was a good blend of problem-solving and making beautiful things. So yeah, it was the perfect answer for my interests, my skills, and what I was good at.

In industrial design, you get taught to think as a designer. It is a good foundation, but at the end of the day, for you to make it in any industry you have to be an expert in that field. I felt like industrial design was too broad and thought that there was more opportunity in the niche categories. If you want to make apparel, you study apparel, if you want to do architecture, you study architecture. I felt the need to specialise in something, and that's when I looked into accessory design. The program at the Savannah College of Art and Design was very strong, and it taught me how to make bags and shoes. I decided to pursue the program, and with practice, I became good at making shoes. I was at a point where I couldn't give it up - if I'd done something else I would have to have started from the beginning, so I stuck with shoemaking, and that's why I'm still doing what I'm doing.

The interview process - dealing with people who don't see what you see when you're trying to move the industry forward. Some people just want you to fill in the blanks and I'm not really into that. I really want to make a difference. Any time I had the chance to interview I would be like "Yes, I want to do the job that you need me to do, but I also want to dedicate time to thinking about how we can do things better." The interview process with different companies was hard, getting a load of "No's" until I got one "Yes." The first yes that I got was adidas, which led me to where I am now.

I did my time at adidas, and had the opportunity to meet Steven Smith, and then once I left adidas we kept in touch. He knew what I could bring to the table and then a year later the opportunity came knocking for me to be part of the team.

Everything just made sense, you know? All the rejections made sense because had I been doing something else I wouldn't be here.

Put simply: making shoes. We have an idea and we move forwards with sample making - with real materials and prototyping, just to fast-track the creation process.

Definitely my grandfather - he's an architect. I think I inherited a lot of his artistic genes. He was responsible for shaping my creative mind from an early age.

The foundations have always come down to him, but as I got deeper into shoemaking I was looking up to my mentor at the time, Marcell Mrsan - the master shoemaker. He was my North Star and my role model for the kind of professional I needed to be in this industry.

I think the key here is to both give people exposure, and to expose people to the idea that it's possible. I think that it's important to expose people to what they can become at a young age, and not necessarily show them a predetermined answer, but show that they can take inspiration from multiple sources and become the creative they want to become.

Find what the industry needs. There may be things you love doing, but if that's not what the industry needs then you might have a hard time breaking into it fast. If you address a need in the industry, you could have several opportunities open up in no time. Also, find what you're good at and try to balance those two areas, and find a happy medium.

I think it's important to learn how to wait. Everyone will experience a different journey, but we all have to wait at some point. You have to be patient but also persistent in your journey, especially if you're trying to make it in any creative field. Make sure that you're very good at your craft and learn to balance when to stand down and when to speak up - there is a right time for both.

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