Abstract: As an important part of Chinese folk dress culture, tiger-head shoes in various regions have distinct and unique traditional folk characteristics. This paper analyzed the development status of Chinese contemporary children's shoes design and the different design languages of tiger image in the aspects of shape, function, color, decoration and technology in traditional and modern children's shoes design. Combined with the characteristics of the times, this paper summarized five innovative methods of tiger element in the design of modern children's shoes, and analyzed the design practice. It can not only provide good reference for modern children's shoes design to break through the traditional thinking shackle, expand design thinking, and create more fashionable and innovative works, but also promote the active inheritance and development of tiger-head shoes as an intangible cultural heritage.

Key words: tiger-head shoe culture, "tiger" image, contemporary children's shoes, innovative design