I love it when I get to write articles like this: take one of the most amazing new industrial 3D printers (Stratasys’ multicolor, multi material Polyjet Objet500 Connex3), add in one of the most “tailorable” items one could possibly wear (shoes) and the creativity of a world class design and engineering firm such a Pensar Development in Seattle, and what you get is something that will truly make you dream of a future with infinite possibilities.
Pensar describes it in this comic strip (see below). The bottom line is that the firm developed a concept that pushes the boundaries of personalization to create a truly bespoke shoe for every individual user. How bespoke is it? About as much as it can be. The DNA shoe concept uses individual anatomical and biomechanical data to craft a shoe built not only to one’s foot contour but also to the way they move and the athletic requirements they may have.
It all begins with 3D scan of your foot, coupled with sensors to capture a person’s unique movements. Then an algorithm creates a custom profile that is ready to be 3D printed. Within just a few hours, the Objet500 Connex3 can dish out a pair of shoes that not only perfectly matches the shape of one’s feet and the way they move, but also their style, since the Stratasys system is capable of multi material and multicolor 3D printing.
Only one issue remains. At the current rates, the price for the amount of resin required to print a pair of shoes, coupled with a $300,000 system’s amortization costs, means that the price of a single pair of shoes will come in somewhere in the region of $2000, according to my own very approximative calculations. So, we talking a similar price to a pair of high quality, designer shoes.
For Pensar – whose name in Italian actually translates to the verb “to think” – this was an exercise to think about the future possibilities offered by 3D printed footwear – when technology and material advancements will make this concept a reality – while not limiting themselves to a render or a virtual concept. The final 3D printed shoes look (and probably feel) amazing.
Then again one of the first prototypes that Stratasys showed when it introduced its Object500 Connex early this year was a pair of futuristic looking shoes. Perhaps the day in which a 3D printer will make you a DNA shoe perfectly tailored to your needs is getting closer.
