Soile Aho

Shoes / Accessories

With over 18 years of experience in shoe and accessory design, primarily at H&M, I’ve specialised in creating products and collections that merge aesthetics with functionality. Most lately I have been designing accessories for H&M Kids.

My strengths lie in customer-centric design and the ability to identify key trends, resulting in products that drive strong sales performance. I have been leading multidisciplinary teams to deliver commercially successful collections aligned with brand identity.

My experience in the commercial fashion industry has shaped my eye for colours, details, aesthetics, and brand-focused storytelling, all of which I’m thrilled to bring to my work in motion design.

A backpack I designed for Back to School -campaign, complementing and elevating the Kids clothing collection.

I have worked with many licenses including Pokémon, Minecraft, Disney, Marvel, Lego, Barbie, Hello Kitty and Bluey. Here are some of my license bag designs.

In this personal project, I designed a modular nylon crossbody bag for a customer inspired by outdoor living with a city lifestyle. At my work and in this project, I used Illustrator to create tech packs to develop detailed technical instructions, incorporating any relevant reference images of materials and details to ensure clarity and ease of understanding in the production.

Eva Cremers x H&M Kids sneaker design. Loved working in this co-lab with Evas’ colourful, fun characters!

Examples of accessories/shoes Moodboards I created for the Divided customer at H&M. As a Concept Designer, I was responsible for visually communicating a clear vision for each trend that would complement and elevate the clothing collection. These moodboards were used to inform and inspire cross-functional teams by highlighting key elements such as products, prints, materials, details, colors, and overall impact. My work was rooted in a thorough research and analysis of global trends, consumer behaviour and competitor analysis to ensure the right timing and fashion level to the target customer.

This cut out -boot I designed for H&M Divided -customer, was featured in Elle magazine.

H&M x Coachella -campaign featuring silver metallic flatform loafers. As a Concept Designer, I was responsible for the accessories selection to different campaigns and activities for H&M Divided.

It’s always exciting to see a happy customer! <3 Our H&M Divided shoe team even received an email from a customer requesting more of these boots in stores after they sold out so quickly!

Great editorial featuring my H&M Divided cut out -sandals.

Fun sunnies for the H&M Divided girl.

This canvas lace up -boot was one of the top sellers for several seasons in H&M Divided shoes.

Marble printed boots for H&M Divided.