Adidas is embracing 3D printing to give you the perfect running shoe for your foot.
The firm on Wednesday unveiled its so-called Futurecraft 3D concept shoe, or what it calls "the future of performance footwear." The shoe features a 3D-printed running shoe midsole, which can be tailored to the cushioning needs of your individual foot.
Adidas is working with 3D-printing firm Materialise to make the idea a reality, but at this point, the Futurecraft 3D is just a "prototype and statement of intent," Adidas Executive Board Member Eric Liedtke said in a statement. The shoe company promised to announce more Futurecraft "design innovations" in the next six months, so stay tuned.
"Imagine walking into an Adidas store, running briefly on a treadmill and instantly getting a 3D-printed running shoe — this is the ambition of the Adidas 3D-printed midsole," the company said. "Creating a flexible, fully breathable carbon copy of the athlete's own footprint, matching exact contours and pressure points, it will set the athlete up for the best running experience."
Creating the prototype was no simple task. The first road block was finding the right material, which turned out to be a modified thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU). The material offers "durable elasticity as well as high tear strength and abrasion resistance," Adidas Footwear Development Manager Daniel Cocking wrote in a blog post.
Once that was sorted out, Materialise used a super-accurate 3D printing process called Laser Sintering to create the initial prototypes, and "within 2 weeks I had run in the shoe myself," Cocking wrote. But as it turns out, creating the right design was the hard part.
"We found that stiffness of the midsole varied significantly as a result of very minor process or design changes," Cocking added. "We began a thorough investigation into the process parameters required to achieve the perfect cushioning."
More than 15 teams, including Adidas's own engineering function, came together to create the final prototype design. Cocking said he hopes this new production method will take some of the anxiety out of buying a new running shoe.
"We all have different foot shapes, and we all have different running gaits," he wrote. "This makes buying a running shoe a tricky journey. By harnessing 3D printing technology, the ultimate goal of true product customization is closer than ever before. It's a promise of a fast approaching revolutionary in-store experience, where your style of running could be analyzed and used to create a perfectly tailored functional product."
For a closer look at the Adidas Futurecraft 3D, check out the video below.