Introducing SLEM

What is SLEM?

In the previous century, during the golden days of the European footwear industry, the leather and footwear manufacturers based in the ‘Longstreet’ area in the south of Holland organized big exhibitions presenting the latest developments in the business, attracting visitors from all over the world. These were called SLEM, which was short for ‘schoenen leder en mode’, meaning shoes, leather and fashion. The last SLEM exhibition was held in 1953, almost 60 years ago. With the downfall of the local shoe industry, due to the rise of low cost labour abroad, the exhibitions stopped. Now the name SLEM (Shoes, Leather, Education, Museum) is revived in the form of a new education and innovation center for the footwear business, aiming to develop and teach innovative knowledge and skills to both students and professionals.  

Where is SLEM?

SLEM is based in Waalwijk, the center of the ‘Longstreet’ area, in the south of The Netherlands, about one hour drive from Amsterdam. To some this might not sound as the most obvious place to start an innovation and education center for footwear, yet what most people don’t realize is that The Netherlands - even though it is a small country - is among the biggest importers and exporters of footwear in the world. The Dutch are known for their trading skills and these have led them to develop shoes for companies around the globe. Furthermore, Dutch Design has made a great name for itself in the past decades, due to the original Dutch sense of style, keeping both feet firmly on the ground whilst displaying a keen sense of humour. Holland is also leading in scientific research; for instance, Dutch research center TNO in Eindhoven was the first to develop a fully functional 3D printed shoe back in 2006.

What does SLEM do?

As many footwear manufacturers were forced to close or move abroad, most schools for the footwear industry closed their doors as well. Yet knowledge is key to be able to compete, so we noticed a growing need for footwear education. Of course the shoe business has changed a lot over the past decades, yet many courses still focus mainly on making shoes by hand, as was done in the past. At SLEM we will bridge the gap between past, present and future by researching and teaching both historic and new knowledge about footwear and leather. We will do this by collaborating with both the Dutch Shoe and Leather Museum and high-tech research facilities. Together we will offer a new international Masterclass in Industrial Footwear Design for students and a broad range of workshops for professionals looking to update and increase their knowledge.

How can you get involved?

SLEM is a modern ‘open source’ facility, allowing as many parties as possible to contribute. To make certain that SLEM will do the best job possible, we ask you to let us know what subjects you would like to learn more about or who you would like to be your teacher. SLEM is a nonprofit organization based largely on ‘crowd funding’, so anyone can contribute, no matter how small the amount. For instance, currently we ask for your donations to help build the SLEM shoe gallery, which will be a unique place for footwear designers, students and artists from all over the world to present their work to both people from the industry and the general public. Even our logo is ‘open source’, allowing you to adjust it to your liking by sketching in and around the letters. 






SLEM is made possible by: