Who will produce the first full 3D footwear?

3D printing has been used in other industries like consumer electronics, defence, medical and education industry. Now, it is gradually creeping into the world of footwear. This is because leading footwear companies like Under Armour, Adidas, Nike, New Balance among others are employing 3D printing to fast track designing and prototyping amazing shoe designs. The result is fascinating as you can personalize products according to individual needs and requirements.

What is 3D technology? According to 3Dprinting.com, “3D or additive manufacturing is a process of making three-dimensional solid objects from a digital file. The creation of a 3D printed object is achieved using additive processes. In an additive process, an object is created by laying down successive layers of material until the entire object is created. Each of these layers can be seen as a thinly sliced horizontal cross-section of the eventual object.”

3D printed shoes are no doubt the future of footwear. It is already available but there is still so much to be done to get a 100% one. So, what efforts are being made by the aforementioned footwear companies to make a 3D footwear available on a large scale? Innovation Village shares of them.

Under Armour 

Under Armour, a footwear company founded in 1996 recently made public its first 3D shoes UA Architect. It is the first shoe brand to release a 3D printed shoe to the market. Surprisingly, only 96 of the UA Architect were  made and sold as they continue to improve on 3D technology. So, it was a limited release.

New Balance 

New Balance has been using 3D printing to customize products including footwear for their athletes for several years.  It has designed new full 3D printed midsoles sneakers for training. New balance worked with Nervous System and 3D system to develop and design these soles. Interestingly, unlike the normal shoe soles, this 3D printed soles allows you to achieve optimal balance of flexibility, strength, weight, and durability. Like Under Armour, only 44 pairs were released.

Nike 

It will not a surprise that Nike has been working on 3D printing as far back as 2013 when it introduced a limited run of 3D printed athletic cleat. This piece of art and technology was expected to revolutionize the world of footwear but it did not. This did not stop Nike from continuing work on 3D printed shoes.  In fact Nike COO, Eric Sprunk said:  “Nike would one day in the near future be able to 3D-print a shoe adding that customers would customize the sneaker online, choosing the color, style, and exact size, and then download a proprietary file to print the shoe at home or in a store.” Of course, many people cannot wait for Nike to unveil its 3D printed footwear in the nigh future. It will be incredible!

Adidas 

We all know that Adidas is Nike’s competitor. Both companies may not be in a hurry to introduce 3D printed shoes but Adidas have made laudable efforts in producing these shoes. In October 2015, it launched a project called Futurecraft3D where it featured a prototype of a 3D printed midsole. Many are patiently waiting for the second largest shoe manufacturing company in the world to roll out these shoes as the company imagines a future where each customer would get such a customized sole for their shoe