News and Insights of 3D Printing and Manufacturing
ASICS has launched its new ACTIBREEZE 3D SANDAL – a 3D printed sandal specifically designed to help the body and mind of a recovering athlete in the ‘After Performance’ phase. The ACTIBREEZE 3D SANDAL features a novel geometric structure, made possible through parametric design and advanced 3D printing technology, to deliver outstanding comfort and protection for the wearer.
Spanish start-up ATHOS, is looking to change the sports footwear industry with a first-of-its-kind 3D printed climbing shoe, made to fit the feet and needs of each climber using HP Multi Jet Fusion 3D printing.
Swiss company Sintratec has developed particular know-how on SLS 3D printing for footwear applications. 3D printing has become a great way to bring some of the most fascinating shoe designs to life – in ways that would not be possible with conventional methods. Dozens of show designers are now turning to 3D printing to bring their creations to life, especially in light of the fact that 3D printing can be used in the footwear production workflow and even for final footwear parts such as midsoles, insoles and uppers. If you have a unique idea for footwear but no access to industrial 3D printers, the Sintratec Shoe Design Contest may be the ideal opportunity for you.
After extensive research on 3D printed footwear and 3D printed footwear tooling on Stratasys Origin systems, ECCO is now ready to offer 3D printed tooling for product development and commercial samples to the wider footwear market.
Materialise released new research which shows UK hospitality and retail sectors are not just suffering from finding staff, but their workers are suffering from physical pain. The large amounts of time staff spend on their feet is impacting their quality of work and mental wellbeing, with nearly one in five, 19%, having considered their future in the sector to avoid on-the-job pain.
Tailor-made orthopedic footwear typically takes several weeks to manufacture – particularly because traditional shoe lasts still need to be made from wood, which is a fairly time-consuming process. PROTIQ demonstrated how this can be done faster: with the help of additive manufacturing. Custom shoe lasts can now be virtually printed overnight and are available on the production bench within a few days. This offer is completed by a free online shoe last configurator that drastically simplifies the design of 3D data and seamlessly integrates it into the ordering process. The web application is built on the parameter software system from trinckle.
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Hush Puppies, the iconic Wolverine Worldwide brand, will commercialize Voxel8‘s digital manufacturing technology in unique midsoles that provide enhanced comfort, support and longevity.
Voxel8, a Boston-area multi-material digital manufacturing company, and Eddy Ricami, a leading Italian manufacturer to the fashion industry, entered an exclusive arrangement for Eddy Ricami to produce and sell high-fashion accessories using Voxel8 technology and ActiveLab system.
Aetrex Worldwide launched Albert 3DFit, a sleek and modern 3D foot scanner created to revolutionize the retail industry by making 3D fit technology available to stores of all sizes. Offering the most innovative technologies, this scanner can calculate customers’ 3D foot measurements in less than 10 seconds with an accuracy of up to 1 millimeter. It features Aetrex’s FitGenius AI platform, which matches customers’ unique foot profiles with their ideal footwear styles and sizes to provide personalized footwear recommendations that can be accessed across a retailer’s digital shopping platforms after leaving the store.
The Materialise Phits Suite is a new standard of personalized care program that helps improve patient mobility. After decades of experience in gait analysis and 3D technology, Materialise wants to start the next generation of insoles, leveraging the latest digital path capture technology, advanced analysis software and 3D printing to achieve a more accurate, efficient and fully customizable workflow. The Materialise Phits Suite is a digital toolbox for accurate and efficient end-to-end workflow, that can assist in providing patient counseling, care, and treatment.
Materials manufacturer Covestro and orthopedic service provider GeBioM, based in Münster, Germany, are expanding their cooperation in the field of orthopedic footwear. In addition to producing lasts and trial shoes, they now support orthopedic shoemakers in the production of custom insoles using 3D printing. A new Addigy FPU 79A thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) from Covestro is used in the form of filaments. Together with Danish printer partner Create it REAL, the companies offer a novel and sustainable solution for the digital production of shoe insoles.
In spite of all the doubts about pricing and workflow, in spite of tough competition from Asian footwear manufacturers, adidas’ idea to bet on Carbon’s technology for footwear midsoles continues to pay off. Pricepoints for some models have dropped below $150 and new models keep coming out, such as the multi-colored 4D Fusio. And with many new technologies coming into this segment, 3D printed footwear is most definitely here to stay.
UAE-based Proto21, one of the most prolific 3D printing service providers in the Middle East and possibly worldwide, just 3D printed 1,008 pieces to form the 32-meter long modular facade of the new adidas flagship store in Dubai Mall.
In 1827, The Book of English Trades summarized the cobbler’s profession: “There are few trades more useful than that of a shoe-maker, and, perhaps, not many that are more profitable, when it is carried on to a considerable extent.” We have largely forgotten this profession as, two hundred years on, the cobbler has been replaced by mass production. Additive manufacturing, however, promises a return in some ways to the personalized shoe of earlier extraction. Such a return, as with many things relating to AM, makes mechanisms and their operators artisans.
The ability to leverage parametric online customization tools to create and personalize entire products is embedded in the potential of 3D printing as a production technology. Until now this potential has been only marginally exploited but the possibilities are rapidly increasing: more optimized products, more customized, more innovative, more sustainable: in the footwear segment, Impact Footwear is introducing all these features truly next-gen 3D printed flip flops: the Impact F1.
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