What should I major in if I want a career designing running shoes?

Orthopedics?

mech engineering and material sciences all the rest you need to learn yourself (biomech's)

Marketing...a joke! So many shoes are sold by mass marketing approaches (volume of sales being the goal) instead of for their value to real runners. Or be a fashion designer. If you make a shoe look pretty then it will sell a lot to the masses and it will make you rich, therefore. If you really are interested in helping runners, study mechanical engineering or else contact Penn State University and investigate their biomechanics dept which has published a lot on running shoes and running gait in the past.

Major in Asian Languages. That way you can communicate with the guys who will be making them at a dime a day.

Thinking outside the box never hurts. Devote some of your time to the study of the movement of animals. Once you think you understand mammals well, design a shoe for a non-human, maybe a gazelle or other well known running animal, then make one, then re-engineer it and make it better, and better, etc. Take the shoe to all your interviews, you'll catch somebody's eye.

FWIW: I agree that mechanical engineering and biomechanics would be helpful in order to be good at designing real, functional shoes, but if you want to work for any of the major companies, as opposed to starting your own, that's probably not the ticket. I know one guy who majored in architecture, but he got in because he ran as an athlete for Adidas, not because he majored in architecture. They seem to look for more fashion types and less science types, except for the actual designers. They all have some materials scientists and some manufacturuing engineers on board, but they're not the ones actually designing the shoes.

you might want to look into an industrial design program. id programs which are usually linked with a university's architecture or design school, often cover designing everything from cars to shoes.

Mechanical Engineering would be a good start. Make sure you get some internships with any shoe company.

i would also agree with biomechanics b/c so many runners suffer from injuries due to biomechanical problems and i bet would pay big bucks for a shoe that actually helps instead of just looking nice.

Durometer and Multicell Theory.

Be the ball, Danny.

Pete Pfitzinger designed shoes for New Balance when he won the trials in '84. Anybody know what he took at Cornell?

correction:

...so many runners suffer from injuries due to inherently flawed shoes (not biomechanics)...

See if you can get a business degree with a minor in mechanical engineering. I know it sounds weird, but I managed to get my major in the Arts and Science school and my minor out of the Engineering school, and I know that it's possible for business students to minor in computer science (part of engineering). So depending on the school, it could be possible.

mech engineering would be good if you wanted to work for r&d. go with sometype of design program if you actually want to create uppers and color schemes. I know someone who started working for one of the major brands in customer service and is now in r&d.

bump

Bioengineering/Biomechanical engineering. Hopefully, you are (or will) go to a university with this major.

:) jag

Legalizit has something there. There really is no fast-track shoe design major persay. Considering the average person changes majors and later, careers more than once, getting yourself a marketable skill set should be your goal. A well-rounded academic/employment background will put you in position to get where you need to go. I would say that working at a running specialty store is key--a lot of guys designing shoes got their start there.