Justin Schneider: From running with the bulls to a half marathon in dress shoes, Wolf and Shepherd is forever changing the shoe game!

JUSTIN SCHNEIDER is the founder and originator of the concept for W&S shoes. As a track and field athlete for Notre Dame, Justin became accustomed to what the performance in a shoe actually means.

Upon graduation, he began working for Adidas, designing shoes for athletes using the latest performance technology. It was during this time that he had a conversation with a friend that would trigger Justin to drop everything and focus on a new concept, attempting to solve a problem that was far too common in the businessman’s world. Instead of forcing yourself to wear uncomfortable dress shoes all day, or switching to sneakers in-between, why not just mold the best of each together to form a superior product, killing two birds with one stone. With the idea finalized, it was time to prove the concept.

Using an old pair of traditionally constructed dress shoes, Justin put together a rough prototype before heading to Mexico, where the first W&S samples were born. To truly test if he had succeeded in his efforts, Justin laced up for a 5K and completed the race in under 20 mins — blister free and convinced the world was ready for a fresh start in defining what the modern dress shoe is. Thus, W&S was born.